Know
by redfeatherz
Summary: I am the writer. I am the vessle for the unspoken, the connection between words and dreams. I can take a life and put it on paper as just a story. And that's all it was, just a story, a fantasy. This is the story that became so much more than a story...
1. Encounter

_Terror rains drenchin', quenchin' tha thirst of _

_Tha power dons_

_That five sided fist-a-gon_

_Tha rotten sore on tha face of mother earth gets_

_bigger_

_Tha triggers cold empty ya purse_

**((Hey everyone! I got a brilliant idea last night, when I was listening to music. It was actually **Bulls on Parade** by Rage Against the Machine. Great song. That's what the lyrics above are from. In case you've never read any of my stories, I like to post random lyrics up top in italics. Mostly from my favorite bands and songs. A lot are from Guitar Hero II or III. Great game. So anyways, here's the story! Great story! And don't you dare skip on reviewing!))**

Disclaimer: I don't own a good chunk of this. James Patterson does. If you don't know what's his and what isn't, then you obviously haven't read the books and shouldn't be reading this. Other stuff is mine. If there's something there that's from someone else, then please tell me and I'll do my best to correct it. I haven't read every book in the world yet, though I'm far on my way to, so sorry if there's something that's someone else's work!

**CRAKKKK**

Polo gasped in pain as his head smashed violently against the wall. He slowly and painfully turned to look in the crazed yellow eyes of his attacker.

"You told!" the enemy snarled, hands at Polo's throat. Polo glared at him.

"How would I? I've been here for my whole life," he spat back. The man, or actually was more of a teenager, who was pinning him growled and slapped him across the face. Polo just sucked in a breath and turned back to face him.

"No, you haven't. You escaped that once, remember," the teen retorted.

"I didn't tell, Molt," he said in an exasperated tone, as if he was used to this sort of thing. Which he actually was. The teen, Molt, just bared his too-sharp teeth.

"Really. Then how does a girl know our entire story? How does she know everything about… everything?" Molt hissed. Polo rolled his eyes.

"I. Didn't. Tell." Polo said again. Molt hesitated. "If I would have told, the story would have been out before now. I would have told it to the world, not just one girl in the middle of nowhere," he emphasized. Finally, Molt nodded, his eyes seeming to dim until they were just light brown, his teeth seeming normal again, and the inane animal look gone.

"Okay," Molt said. He roughened up again suddenly. "Back in your cage, filth!" he snarled, practically throwing the scrawny teen into a cage. Polo sighed, picked himself up, and leaned against the bars.

Home, sweet Home.

Eli

"Hey, have you read that new book?"  
"Ohmygod, yes. It was so good!"

"Good? That's it? It was freaking amazing!"

"Wow, you just said a book is amazing! You hate reading!"

"I know!"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my binder, closing the locker. Everyone was fawning over a book, and I had already read it before it really came out. Because I had been the one to write it.

Yup, I wrote a book. Nobody knew that I was the author, except my publisher. You'd think that I would need parental forms and junk like that to write a book, since I was only fifteen, but I didn't! The only way someone would be able to relate me to the writer, Sam, was if they somehow wrung the information out of my publisher or realized where the enormous sum of money in my bank account came from.

Even though I had written a whole novel with numerous awards and tons of cash, life still went on. I went to school, dressed normal, hung out with my friends, and had hockey.

I'm a girl and I'm on a guy's hockey team. So? It's actually supposed to be co-ed, but they cut mostly everyone. I was the one exception. There was no one else fit for playing goalie, since the last one graduated. I was the best candidate.

Wow, I'm getting too far ahead of myself. My name is Eli Hazel. I'm fifteen. I live in Maine. It was late February, and there was a crapload of snow on the ground. I'm talking a good four feet of the stuff, and it was somewhere around negative eleven. I was a freshman in high school. I had golden-brown straight, a little over shoulder-length hair that has deep red in it. Not stripes or anything, but in the right light, it takes on a reddish tint. I didn't dye it, they're just like that. My eyes are hazel and just about match my hair. Sometimes people teased me and called me Hazel. Last name is Hazel, eyes and hair…? You should get it.

So, introductions- check.

I stifled a yawn as I headed for the locker rooms. All the girls around me were changing up for basketball and skiing, but I was the only one yanking on hockey gear. I'm not the most popular girl, and I'm not friendless either. I was asking Emily to help me with my gear occasionally, and she did so gladly.

She was into basketball, and I had been for middle school. Then it dawned on me how badly I sucked at it, and I didn't play for a while. When I shot hoops at the local gym complex, Gentile Hall, I found that I didn't really like basketball that much anymore. So I went with hockey.

Emily had dark brown hair, a bit shorter than mine, and all spiral curls. She had a round face and blue eyes, and we were best buds ever.

"Have you read that new book yet?" I asked casually. She nodded, her eyes lighting up as she tore a brush through her curls.

"Yes! It was amazing! I'm not usually into that sci-fi stuff, but this had some good romance in it! Max and Fang… they're great," she crooned. I smiled.

"I liked it a lot," I said simply, snapping on the rest of my gear.

Two hours and what had to be a couple miles later, I headed home. I had taken my snowmobile to school today because I had woken up a bit early and had time, so I enjoyed the ride, blasting through the snow like I was shot from a gun barrel.

About a quarter mile from home, I thought I saw a figure on the edge of the woods. A bear? Whatever it was, it was big and black and on the ground. I stopped a little ways away for safety's sake, and slowly crept forward. I froze when I realized what it was.

Everything I thought I knew crumbled in that one second. That was the last time I saw life as I had before.

**((So, whaddya think? I know, it's wicked short, and I'm sorry for that, but I have to save the other stuff for the next chapter. I'd like at least four reviews before I post again! Please, sir/madam, can you spare a moment and review? –bambi eyes-))**


	2. Higher

_Up high I feel like _

_I'm alive for the very first time_

_Set up high I'm strong enough_

_To take these dreams_

_And make them mine_

_Can you take me Higher?_

_To a place where blind men see _

_Can you take me Higher? _

_To a place with golden streets_

**((Wow. I am unbelievably impressed with all of you reviewers right now. I had no doubt that I would get one, maybe two reviews! XD a bit of randomness for ya- Happiness is a mouth full to bursting of cookie dough while playing your favorite song on Guitar Hero III in battle mode. And winning, of course.**

**O, I thought I'd tell you that there isn't going to be Fang, Max, or any of them in here. They'll be mentioned, but they won't show up. Well, they might for a moment a bit later, but not for a while.**

**Thanks to: therealme1123, anonymouse13, Nova Ride, FangFanFolkenette, and James Patterson for creating this whole wonderful thing.))**

Polo

As soon as Molt had started talking about my last escape, I started planning another. A girl knew our story? _The_ story? No way, unless an eraser had told her or something.

So, I sat in my cage, brooding over this new development. And devising an escape plan. My exercise day was today, so I could probably escape during then, as I had the time before. The erasers depended more on fear than anything else.

That's how I had gotten away last time. This time I would be guaranteed at least one major injury, but it would be a small price for freedom, however short or long it would be.

Sure enough, at around four thirty by my reconing by the small window in the top corner of the room, Molt tromped in.

"Time to get the stink blowed off you," he hissed, kicking my cage onto a short table thing with wheels and booting me out into the hall. He roughly steered me down familiar corridors before ramming me into the doorjamb on the way outside, catapulting my cage onto the ground painfully. I didn't give him the satisfaction of seeing or hearing my pain, though. He nodded to a large group of erasers who were already pacing the edges of a track, and they nodded back respectfully.

"Not thinking of escaping, are you?" Molt sneered. _That's exactly what I'm thinking,_ I thought, but didn't dare say it out loud. He opened my cage, and grabbed my arm, throwing me out.

At which point I made my move.

The brilliance of my plan, if you could grace it with such a name, was that nobody expected me to try to escape again, and most escapes took place once I was already out of my cage. Molt was extremely surprised to see, hear, and feel my effort.

He didn't see that I had hold of the crate door, and when he threw me, I swung it upward with all of my strength. It made a delightful clanging sound against his face, and he fell on the ground. Unfortunately, the other erasers heard the commotion, but I was already whipping out my wings.

Yep, I said wings. Thirteen foot wingspan, black feathers to match my black hair and dark eyes. In an instant, I was beating them hard, pulling myself into the air. Shouts echoed on the ground below me, and three erasers started flying after me, morphing rapidly.

Ragged claws protruded from hairy paws, their noses and jaws seeming to bulge out into a muzzle packed with razor teeth. The flying wolf-men were catching up, fast. Time to show them what I could do.

I dove down into the trees and barreled through the trunks, turning sideways and spinning between them. I heard the pleasant howling from one of the erasers, and I didn't have to look back to know that he'd crashed.

After what had to be two miles, the remaining wolf dudes were still following me. I suddenly turned sideways and turned around a tree, my back brushing the trunk slightly as I curled around it. The erasers apparently hadn't expected me to go back toward them, as one cried out in surprise, trying to bank and catching his wings on trees. There was a terrific ripping sound, and… Actually, I'll spare you the gory details.

The other eraser was smarter, (actually, I just realized that it was Molt,) and dropped below me, spinning around to give me a kick in the stomach. The breath whooshed out of me, and I gasped for air. He took the opportunity to attack again.

We were weaving through the trunks, sometimes separated by one but mostly connected by fists and feet. I pulled ahead and braked, making him crash into my fist. Remind me to laugh later. Molt grabbed the fist and whipped me against a tree, slashing my back and wings with branches. I returned the favor by using a branch to swing myself around the tree, so I was behind him.

I grabbed his wings and smashed them together, causing him to screech with pain and plummet. I waved pleasantly, almost hitting a tree, then pulled up out of the trees and poured on the speed, trying to get away from the Home before reinforcements caught up.

I saw a brown blur an instant before I felt it. I felt clawed hands grab me around the stomach in a sort of football tackle, and the claws yanked on my wings hard. I yelped as I felt one of my wing muscles overextend, straining itself too hard. Ow.

Somehow, I planted my feet on his face and shoved him down into the trees again, holding him in the branches as he screamed in pain. _Eat that, Molt._ After a moment, it was too much for him and he fell unconscious.

I dropped him unceremoniously onto the ground far below, smirking at the crunching sound. It wasn't until then that I realized that a hot liquid was running down my back. I felt the pain a second later, and winced from it. Despite it, I continued on my desperate flight away from imprisonment. I should have felt relieved and excited, but all I was feeling at the moment was pain and cold. Man, it was really getting cold out. The Home had some kind of barrier around it that prevented storms, snow, cold, stuff like that so they could save on heating. Then it started snowing.

_Oh joy,_ I thought bleakly as my wing beats became more unsteady. I chuckled slightly, feeling hysterical. The beating of my wings sounded like a song. I sang along uncertainly, not realizing what was happening until blackness closed around me like the wings I flew on.

Eli

He laid on the snow, limbs splayed around him and a small patch of snow turned red, but I could tell that it wasn't fatal. He had black hair, feathery and in disarray. He was wearing a tight black t-shirt and dark jeans, both looking like they'd seen better days. And then… protruding from his back, underneath him were wings.

I estimated the wingspan to be about twelve, thirteen feet. The feathers were sleek black, looking like oil when it caught the sun and shone rainbow colors hidden beneath the darkness. The strangest thing about the whole scene wasn't the wings. I actually felt pretty calm about them, thinking, _Okay, so he's got wings. Alright with me._

No, the thing was that I recognized him. Something about him was familiar, like a face I'd passed on the street, or had worked at a store I'd been to. Something startlingly familiar…

_Polo sat in the corner of a cage, staring with dead eyes as yet another cage neighbor was carried out. He had died about two hours ago from the tests forced upon him. All Polo wanted was to be free of this hell. He rustled his wings, shifting to a more comfortable position, but was interrupted by the door banging open. A boy about his age, twelve years old, barged in. Polo was young, but still old enough to know pain, rage, and that this was his life and would forever be it unless he escaped._

_The boy grinned at Polo, showing teeth that were too white._

"_Time to play!" he shouted, laughing merrily despite Polo's obvious depression. Polo gave him a weary glance._

"_I'm tired, Molt, can't I exercise later?" he mumbled, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Molt laughed again, dragging his cage onto a table with wheels._

"_Nope!" Molt barked, giggling madly as he sprinted the cart down the halls at a potentially dangerous rate._

"_Slow down, Molt!" Polo yelped, wincing as they flew around a corner on two wheels, the cage barely staying on. His companion just cackled._

_They hit the doorjamb, like they always did, and Polo was thrown onto the ground while Molt rolled on the ground, holding his stomach with laughter. The cage had cracked open like a broken egg on impact._

_Taking advantage of the moment, Polo jumped into the air, using the table as a springboard. Black wings slapped at the air, and the Home was behind him in moments._

I stared at him in shock. He was the character from the book I was planning to write next! Not the book with Max and her flock, a new book that I hadn't even started on!

I had seen this boy, Polo, in a dream, where most of my writings started. He was an experiment of the Home, a new version of the School. I hadn't been planning to give him a flock, but he was going to get a companion/mate/girlfriend named Sam. She was going to be a darker version of Max, and it was Polo's job to get her back on the good side. Sam wasn't really one of the characters I'd dreamed about, I had just made her up because I hadn't been dreaming much lately.

"Polotheus…" I whispered, needing to say his name. His full name actually was Polotheus (Poe-low-TH-ee-us (Poe rhymes with go)), but most people called him Polo. He stirred at his name, and I took a step forward so that I was standing over him. He moaned thinly, opening his eyes slowly.

Man, he was freakin' _fast._ He was on his feet, crouching over me with a hand over my throat before I knew what was happening. From the feel of my already-bruising skin, he had swept a foot under me, knocking me to the ground, and had sprang on me, one knee in my stomach to help hold me down.

"Who're you?" he snarled, all feral looks and inhuman speed. I smiled up at him, staring into his dark eyes as a loose feather, wet with blood, drifted down into my hair.

"Sam."


	3. An Unwritten Story

_Breathe your life into me_

_I can feel you_

_I'm falling, falling faster_

_Breathe your life into me_

_I still need you_

_I'm falling, falling_

_Breathe into me_

_Breathe into me_

**((Bonjour, mes amies! I know, there's only been four reviews, but it's been just KILLING me to wait! Trust me, it hurts me just as much to not post. I was planning on getting ahead on this on our tourney road trip, since I don't have connection to the internet in the car, I wouldn't have any distractions to stop me from getting a chapter or two done. So much for that plan, my dad said no laptops. Phoey.**

**Anonymouse13- which Guitar Hero version, do you mean? I looove GH III, but I've never seen GH I. I don't know anyone who's played it, either. Kinda strange, I think. My favorite song is definitely Stricken by Disturbed. Or maybe Mauvais Garcon by NAAST. Or maybe 3's & 7's by Queens of the Stone Age… -broods-**

**Thanks to: Iceheart13, FangFanFolkenette, and anonymouse13 (seriously, what is with u guys and the number 13? My other stories end up with a ton of reviewers with the number 13 in their names). Yes, that's three and I got four reviews, but SOMEONE who I will not name here (be glad I'm not telling everyone how rude you were, Fang Fan66, and I'm not mentioning names) was being mean. OC's are what I live for. If you don't like it, then don't read it and don't hassle me for it. End of story (not this one, though. There's lots more chapters).))**

Polo

"Sam."

I stared at the human, slightly puzzled. Something about the name made me pause. For the first time, I took in his appearance. He was wearing wind pants, boots, a jacket, mittens, and a large helmet. He suddenly shook his head, pulling of the helmet.  
Oh. It was a girl. With all of the gear on, I couldn't tell. Her golden-brown hair, freed from the helmet, caught the sun and seemed to glow dark red. Her eyes almost matched her hair, the pupils narrowed from the sun and from adrenaline. They were a golden hazel, with green and black lines.

"Sorry, I… I don't know where my mind was. My name is Eli," she said, looking confused. I nodded slowly.

"You don't seem to be too surprised about me. Most people would show some signs of shock at the wings," I said dryly. She smirked, looking amused. A veil seemed to slide over her eyes, hiding something. What was it that I had just caught in her gaze? I thought it was recognition, but no… I didn't know her, so she couldn't know me.

"I have a passion for the supernatural, you could say. I've taken a lot of interest in genetics, too, and have realized that this sort of thing is possible," she said slowly, picking each word carefully. A definite sign of a dark secret. "So… care to explain why you're laying in a field with a t-shirt on and wings? And," she hesitated, eyes widening, "why you're crusted with blood?"

It was my turn to smirk. "I fell, obviously."

"Yeah, I figured that, but I bet you don't fall often."

"True." She waited for me to say more, but I stayed silent. She huffed a sigh, looking frustrated.

"I'm not going to hurt you or whatever you think I'm going to do. You can let me up," she snarled with surprising venom. My eyebrows raised, and I helped her climb to her feet. Even with all the gear on, she was surprisingly light. Almost too light for a human teenager.

"Don't you want to know my name, know where I come from and how I got my wings?" I asked, a trace of sarcasm in my voice. Last time I escaped, the three people that saw my wings had asked questions about me the whole friggin time. So I just left, and the erasers used the new technology to wipe their minds.

She hesitated, eyes becoming guarded. "S-sure," she managed to mutter. I gave her a curious look, then began wiping the blood and snow off my arms, and she handed me her jacket, revealing a dark blue hockey hoodie. I nodded gratefully, curling my hands into fists under the sleeves to warm them up. The jacked smelled good, and I took an inconspicuous sniff. Mmmmm, smelled almost citrus-orange-ish. Once again, I took in her golden hair and eyes, then shifted my gaze nervously to the ground as I sat down on the machine. A snowmobile, I think.  
"I was created at a lab called the Home. Scientists, or as we called them, whitecoats, used illegal stem cell research and such to bind bird genes to my human ones. I'm 4 percent bird, ninety-six percent human. The results of the bird genes are mostly predictable. Mostly is the operative word, here.

"The whitecoats know most of the effects, such as wings, enhanced speed, strength, senses, and intelligence, but other things can occur. Their first creations, the flock, had abilities that came from unexpected genetic twists. The leader could go at super speeds, one could mimic voices perfectly, one could touch something and get sort of vibes from it, and then there was Angel. Angel was young, only eight years old, and she could read minds, influence the minds, breathe under water, and talk to fish. I haven't developed anything like that.

"All of the experiments are kept in cages and are mistreated horribly. They do tests on us constantly, painful injections and cruel endurance tests. The guards are experiments, too, but they're pure evil just like the whitecoats. They are lupine-human hybrids. They look like normal people in human form, except they look almost too perfect and have sugar-coated voices. They can morph into werewolf things. My personal guard and enemy is Molt, one of the powerful ones. Oh, and they've added bird genes into the mix to get wings with them.

"I escaped, as you can tell. I was taken out for my weekly exercise break, and I made a break for it. Got a bit beat up when a few of them chased me, but I'm mostly fine now. I think I passed out from blood loss and cold. I heal incredibly fast, though, another result of my unique DNA blend." Wow, that was probably the most I'd ever said at one time. Being away from the cage does things to a mutant. I scrutinized her face, seeing if she was keeping up. There was still that veil, that I-have-a-huge-secret-that-you-can-never-know-or-bad-things-will-happen look. Other than that, she looked remarkably calm for someone who had just discovered that there was an evolved form of humans, illegally created by psycho scientists in a hidden laboratory.

But hey, I'm not a pro on human feelings and expressions. I've never been human. Sometimes I wonder if I see like a human, speak like a human, even think like a human. There's no way for me to know, really. I can't exactly look through one's eyes, and I'm not about to describe my mind to one.

"Okay. Does that mean you're just going to… leave? After telling me all this?" she asked, looking slightly confused. I paused.

"I hadn't really thought about that," I said truthfully, shrugging and then wincing at the pain in my wings. Okay, maybe I wasn't totally healed yet. She noticed my discomfort and raised an eyebrow.

"You can stay at my place for a while. I just live with my foster mom, Sue, and we've got a nifty heated playhouse out back that I sometimes stay in. It's got a bed and stuff, but you'd have to come inside for bathroom stuff," she offered, eyes bright and hopeful. I paused again, uncertain. "She'll never know, and I'd bet it's safer and more comfortable than any place you've stayed in."

"Okay, but first I'd better tell you the risks for _you._ I have an army of psycho wolf men chasing after you that won't hesitate to kill and-or torture you. They have super advanced technology and are probably hunting for me as we speak. Oh yes, and I'm an unstable being that they're not sure what exactly will happen to me because my DNA isn't even supposed to exist, so there's a chance that I'll spontaneously combust and light your house on fire. I could suddenly go insane or something. I'm a living, breathing, talking superweapon that the biggest psycho murderer scientists want to recapture at all costs," I said dryly, curling my lip. "Are you willing to endanger your foster mom, your self, and everyone you know?" And there I go again, talking her ears off. I usually am silent and icy, but I meet one human girl and am suddenly mister motor mouth. Note to self: talk less.

"Yeah." She didn't even hesitate. Jeez, I must have really left an impression. "If you're outrunning these people for every day of your life, then I can do it for a while," she said at the surprised look on my face. I shrugged, still trying not to talk.

"My house isn't far. Wear that jacket or you'll freeze from the wind. And there's a hat in the back compartment, put that on," she said briskly, shifting until she was straddling the machine with her hands on the big bar, yanking on a rope and pushing some buttons. The thing roared like a car engine, but almost twice as loud.

It took me a moment to find it, but I shoved the black knit hat with some sort of brim thing on my head, thankful that Eli wasn't all about pink stuff. I twisted into the same position as her, then hesitated. Where was I supposed to hold on? And what did she mean about wind? Surely we couldn't go as fast as flying or a car on this big chunk of metal, and the air was calm.

"You know, I can just fl-," I started, but was cut off when she tightened her hand on a bar thing, pressing it to the grip. We shot forward, and I was shocked at the speed. I instinctively wrapped my hands around her stomach, holding on for dear life. She slowed to a stop, turning to me and shouting through her helmet and over the engine.

"Flying would start your back bleeding again. I can't have you dying from lack of blood, and human blood doesn't have red nuclei, so I couldn't really give you a transfusion. If you turn around and face backward, you can hold onto the back instead of choking me," she suggested, snickering. I frowned and turned as she instructed me, placing my hands in the correct spots. Then we started off again.

The ride seemed far too long, and I wasn't happy until she started slowing down in the woods. She cut the engine with a slap on a button, and yanked her helmet off.

"My house is right at the edge of those trees, uber close. There's the playhouse closest to us, then the house in front and to the side. Can you walk there? I don't want Sue to see two people drive up, much less a guy. I'll be out as soon as I can," Eli promised, nodding me in the general direction. I nodded, then started off as the engine roared to life again.

Eli

I was slightly surprised by Polo's reaction to the snowmobile ride. It wasn't until I had it in the garage and was taking off all of my gear that I realized he'd probably never seen one before. Whoops.

I took a deep breath before charging inside. Time to lie.

I kicked off my shoes, hollering, "I'm home!" I chucked my backpack into the corner, glad that I didn't have homework for once. If you're wondering where I got the backpack, I had stowed it in the back compartment with the hat Polo was wearing. That hat made him even hotter, if possible, but I liked his black hair casually, thrown across his forehead. It gave him the hot emo look.

Sue rushed around the corner, giving me a hug. Just to give you a heads up, Sue isn't stupid or anything. She's actually very perceptive, despite how childish she is.

"Hey hon! You're home late, did you get the sled stuck?" she asked. I grinned. _Yes, let's go with that._

"Hey mum. Yeah, but only for a sec. I just went for a little joyride." I'm not supposed to call her Sue, so I call her mum.

"Fun! Did you see any wildlife or something? You seem flustered and excited." See what I mean by perceptive.

"A huge black bird was fallen in the field, but it flew off," I replied, keeping my eyes from hers by busily grabbing a box of crackers and a bottle of water. I had just realized that I was starving, since lunch had been hours ago, and the exertion of hockey plus the excitement of Polo hadn't helped much.

I was relieved when the dryer buzzed, and Sue went to go grab the load. I stuffed a bag of chips, a jar of peanut butter, a bag of beef jerky, and a couple bottles of soda and a few waters into my backpack.

"I've got a lot of homework, and I'm going to do it in the playhouse!" I shouted, slipping on my shoes again. She nodded, walking by with an arm full of laundry to fold. I slung on my backpack, ran over to peck her on the cheek, and headed for the playhouse where Polo waited.

Molt

My fist smashed into the wall, crumpling it. I couldn't believe that he'd escaped. I had just finished talking to him about escape, and he did it!

"S-sir, we've got his position. Do… do you w-want us to move in?" an underling stammered. I fixed him with a dagger glare, and he shrank back. He looked like a thirty year old to my fifteen, but he knew that I was boss. He was at my mercy, my disposal. Especially since he was in soldier position that all underlings must use when addressing their boss. His right hand held his left elbow behind his back, leaving him practically defenseless. He could attack, but in the time it took for him to shift to a ready position gave me enough time to morph, defend, or launch my own attack.

"Where is he?" I hissed, and he flinched as my eyes flashed wolf yellow and my teeth momentarily sharpened.

"H-he's with that… that writer g-girl. The gir-girl that wrote the b-b-book about the _flock_." He said the last word in a hushed tone, as if he was saying 'ghost' or 'god'.

A malevolent smirk slid across my face.

"Good. Don't attack, just post sentries. We'll watch them for a while," I said in a velvet voice, filled with danger. The underling nodded and practically ran out. I turned slowly to the window, staring down at the exercise field where he had escaped. The other miscreants kept stealing admiring glances at the sky and at the spot where he had touched the ground. Erasers were sniffing the cage remains and the ground to pick up his most recent scent, readying for tracking.

"Thanks for the gift, Polo. Now we've got an excuse to kill her."

**((sorry again for the long wait! Vacation is coming to a close (-sob-) so I've got a huge project to do. My damned teacher said we could only use one resource that has no information whatsoever, and he hasn't explained jack shit. :( stupid school.**

**Anyway, press that lovely 'Go' button and gimme a review! Four's the magic number!))**


	4. 3XP3R M3NTAL: Maximum Ride

_Hold on slow down again from the top now and tell me everything_

_I know I've been gone for what seems like forever_

_But I'm here now waiting_

_To convince you that I'm not a ghost or a stranger_

_But closer than you think_

_She said "Just go on to what you_

_Pretend is your life but_

_Please don't die on me"_

_Wings won't take me_

_Heights don't faze me_

_So take a step_

_But don't look down take a step_

_I'm standing on the rooftop ready to fall_

_I'm think I'm at the edge now but I could be wrong_

_I'm standing on the rooftop ready to fall_

**((I know, I did lots of today's song, but I think it fits in with MR a lot, and a crapload with my story. Polo talking to Sam…? Get it? I know, laaame. But whatever. I'd better catch up on songs. Ch. 2's song was **Higher** by Creed, Ch. 3's song was **Breathe Into Me** by Red (Sophomores did that song for battle of the bands, and it was uber good. If it's Jerica reading this, I admit it, they were pretty good. And I'm addicted to that song now.) and this song is **Ready to Fall** by Rise Against. Freakin' amazing song, better than anything. Listen to it right now. –cracks whip- XD Just kidding! About the whip part, but not about the song. It is unbelievable.**

**WARNING!! I've done a character section in my profile. DO NOT READ IT!! It will give away a ton of this story and ruin your life. No joke, I'm serious. Don't read it, and if you do, then flying teddy bears from hell will fly into your house and eat you slowly and painfully. So there. And if you do read it, please don't say any comments about it in a review or I will track you down and sick my teddy bears from hell on you.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, and neither does Eli. James Patterson does. But I do own Eli, Polo, a large chunk of this plot, and the Strawberry Fizz perfume on my dresser that smells like nothing you've ever graced your nose with.**

**Thanks to: Nova Ride, anonymouse13, and Iceheart13. (that's three, but I can't help it. I gotta write. It's an addiction.) Anonymouse13: I LOVE THOSE SONGS! –glomps- And Polo's monologue is a bit much, I admit. I just get soo caught up in the writing that I forget it's from his POV. Of course, he grew up around scientists that created things beyond human comprehension, so that's what I'm going to blame it on. I'm sorry if I do it again, which I probably will (whoops. Oh well. You can take the writer out of the library, but you can't take the library out of the writer. XD I just slaughtered that quote, didn't I.) by mistake.**

**GES WAT!! I learned calligraphy! I did it with one of those old pen things that you dip in ink, too! It was wicked cool (I know, I still use the word wicked. Lame me :/ lol) and I was really good at it. Lol… that was really random.**

**One other thing- ILOVEYOU **_Armaggedon Child_**!!!!! You guys should go check out her stories, especially **The Riddlyr** and **Dresden. **Go to those stories. Now.**

**Wow, that was an uber (I love that word. Oob-ur. Oob rhymes with noob and tube, that's your vocab word of the day.) long authors note. Call me Nudge ;) J/k))**

Eli

Polo's head shot up when I walked in. I stared at him in shock for a moment. In his hand was my knife, thick and sharp, held in front of him in an unmistakable ready-to-kill position. It was stainless steel, about three inches long, and folded into the black rubber handle. It was, in short, a folding hunting knife, though the real use was far from what it was named to do.

"Oh. Uh… heh, uh, sorry. I, I didn't know it was you," he said awkwardly, lowering the weapon and looking sheepish. I snickered, despite the fact that my hands were trembling from a combination of adrenaline and fear, and I had been moments away from a slashed jugular.

"'S okay," I replied calmly, leaning against the door and letting out a deep breath, a hand against my chest. There was a weird disappointment from the lack of a fight, but I recovered quickly.

The playhouse was more of a small, homey shack. It had a kitchen-bar in one corner, complete with a small oven, a microwave, a sink, and a few cupboards with dishes and silverware. A fold-down table was in one corner, with three chairs, and there was a lounge section with two bean bags, a coffee table, a full-to-bursting bookshelf, and a loveseat under the wood ladder to the bunk. In the bunk were two futons covering the floor, strewn with blankets and pillows, making it more of a nest of soft and cushiness.

Polo put the knife on the counter, helped me unpack the food and began gorging right away. I followed his example, both of us eating in silence. But it wasn't an uncomfortable quiet, it felt peaceful and calming.

It was strange how normal it all felt. I was with a freaking fracking superhuman thing who'd just stopped himself from killing me (second time that day, might I add,) with my own knife, eating crackers with peanut butter and just the peanut butter straight off a spoon.

"Why do you have that knife?" Polo asked innocently and quietly, looking at me with wide, dark eyes that made me wonder what he was like when he was little. I could picture a little toddler with puppy-dark eyes and black hair, and little black chicken wings fluttering behind him, but it didn't look very much like the teen in front of me. Polo was a fifteen-year-old emo rockstar, with the hair across his forehead and his eyes dark and penetrating.

"Just 'cause," I answered cautiously. _Careful,_ I told myself. "I feel a bit safer with it, and I like whittling. Nothing big, just making a nice walking stick." As proof, I took out a tall, thin, white branch of wood. All of the bark had been stripped away with a knife, but it hadn't been the one lying on the counter. No, the one on the counter had a different, far more important and knife-like duty to do. It was part of what made me _me._

"Oh," he said, though I could tell that he had no clue what whittling was. I sighed, acting all exasperated, but I knew he saw the glint of humor in my face.

"Whittling. You take a chunk of wood and just carve it for a while, sort of like sculpting or something, but it's for fun, and people usually just strip the wood until it's just a twig." He still looked blank.

"Why?" he said simply.

"Just because. For something to do."

"Doesn't sound like a lot of fun. Sounds boring. You've got lots of other stuff to do," he pointed out, slightly bewildered. I just shrugged.

Polo

I was shocked that people would just sit around, stripping wood to nothing. It was a waste of wood, and dulled the knife. Where was the point in that when there was work to be done, bad guys on the loose (-cough- _whitecoats_ –cough-… 'scuse me), homework to be done, people starving, and then, if they didn't want to do that, there was plenty of entertainment. Like the snowmobile, or a board game, or chat with friends.

Humans. Psh.

Eli

I was surprised at how much Polo was into that whittling. It took a moment and a couple more spoons of peanut butter before I realized that he couldn't imagine people wasting time like that.

"So, what do you do for fun?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I like talking with friends, taking pictures… I like science a lot, and I love to read," I listed. "I like to write, too." _Crap._ He wouldn't relate me to Sam, would he? I had blurted out 'Sam' when he'd asked my name, but it was a common name. For a guy, but not a girl…_ Frig._ And there wasn't anything he could base it off, except a little mistake. A little mistake that I now realized could cost me my life, since the maniacal erasers were real. _Shitshitshit,_ I thought. But there wasn't recognition or anything suspicious on his face. Wasn't really much of any emotions, really.

"Cool. Can you show me some pictures?" he said casually. My hackles lowered.

"Sure." I walked over to the bookshelf, tugging a maroon and silky album that was packed with plastic picture slots.

"That's Emily, my best friend," I said, pointing her out as we settled on the short couch. "And me, Tessa, Alex, Matt, Caleb, Kaitlyn, I forgot she used to wear those weird sunglasses, Dannielle, and Logan," I named as I went along. It was one of my favorite pictures, and a very recent one. It was taken at the end of eighth grade, on Kaitlyn's lawn. It was a pool party, so everyone was in swimsuits, tan and laughing about some joke.

We all had our arms over each other's shoulders, and were barefoot. I could see the M&M's on the ground from our candy war moments before, and I could practically hear the song that had been playing was 'Over My Head' by The Fray, and it was only moments later that the mailman had stopped, and we asked him if he wanted to come party with us, and he looked weirded out when he said no thanks.

"That's Sue and I after my cross country meet this fall," I explained. There was mud caked all over my legs, and my spikes were just soggy lumps. I was beaming, despite the fact I'd been crying moments before. It had been my best meet; I'd run three miles in an amazing 22 minutes, then had barfed and cried and fell over right after I got across the finish line. I hadn't been the only one, either, since it was regional, and we needed to qualify. I had counted some twenty other girls gagging and choking. We made it to states, though!

"Cross country meet?" he questioned? I took pity on him.

"It's a sport. Pure running. You just run your hardest for three miles, against tons of others. It's just a big race." He nodded.

"What's that picture?" he asked, pointing to one that I had just put in a week ago. I was standing in my favorite black mini skirt, and a silk t-shirt blouse. I had on murderous black skimpy heels, a silver charm necklace, black and silver hoop earrings, and a black and silver necklace with a charm of an eagle in flight. My hair was up in a fancy bun with stray curls artfully framing my face. I had on the perfect amount of makeup to make me look great, but just enough for me to still look natural. You're probably wondering, _why the heck is Eli dressed up?_

I had dressed up for the opening day of my book. I had just been presented the first copy of my book 3XP3R!M3NTAL: Maximum Ride.

"Oh. That one. About that..."

_Shitshitshit._

Polo

Molt had never told me the author's name. He never told me that it was a freaking fifteen-year-old girl from Maine. Was it just a coincidence that she had written a story right next door to one of the bigger labs, hidden away in the pines and moose of Maine? Nope. I don't believe in coincidences, or luck, or miracles. There had to be a connection. She could be some sort of mutant, or a reject that was smuggled away, or she could have been rescued like the flock had been ten years ago. Sue was her stepmother, she'd told me herself.

But why would she write about it like this and not try to blow the story out to the public? She should have done it like Fang's blog. It didn't make sense. If she was keeping it a secret, she wouldn't have let me see the picture, or told me that Sue was her stepmother.

"So you wrote 3XP3R!M3NTAL?" I asked cautiously, already planning an escape route. _Grab the knife, that could be useful, flip the tabl-no, fling the food stuff at her, the table's attatched to the wall, kick the door open, go for the woods in case she's got backup…_

"Yes, but listen! I'm not working for the Home, I'm not a mutant as far as I know, and I'm not evil, I didn't even know that all of it was real until I saw you in the field, and then I didn't want to tell 'cause I was scared and I didn't want any trouble or any more danger-," she babbled until I casually licked a dollop of peanut butter off my finger.

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," I reassured, realizing that she'd said the same thing to me an hour ago. "If you aren't a mutant, don't work with them, and aren't evil, then who told you?"

"Nobody." I raised my eyebrows. "Honestly, nobody did. If they would have, then I would have known that it was real."

"Then… how do you know all of it?" I asked, puzzled.

"I just… found out, I guess. I… I got the ideas from dreams. I dreamed about the flock, and Max, and Ari, and Jeb.

Eli

**((A/N: this next part is a memory. Big parts in italics are memories.))**

_A lone girl stood on the edge of a cliff, her toes curled around the jutting rock. She looked down, brown hair with blonde streaks hanging over her face. She turned and spread her arms, a look of pure rapture on her face as she spread her arms. Then, without hesitating, she fell forward gracefully, hair flapping in the wind._

_Something else was flapping, too. White and tan wings with beige freckles across them beat the air down, hard. Behind her, on the edge she had just plunged from, five other figures ran out of a cave, laughing and diving right off the edge and following the lead girl, all of them with different wings. A moment later, after a slight pause, a teen boy walked to the edge and just jumped into the air, dark wings pulling them after him. He had dark eyes, hair, and an emotionless face._

"Fang!" I gasped suddenly. Polo gave me a strange look.

"What?"

"Fang! That's who you look like! Fang!" He blinked.

"You know what they look like?" he asked, bemused. I nodded.

"I told you, I dreamed of them, and then the story just… came to me. I thought that I had just made it up." **((A/N: you other writers know what I'm talking about. You just get a brilliant epiphany and NEED to write. I can't really explain the feeling. Your mind just spits it out, and it goes from there.))**

"Oh. That's…" he paused, looking for a word.

"Cool? Unique? Amazing?" I provided hopefully. He shook his head.

"Weird," he finished, and I frowned.

"Well, you know my story now. I hafta do my homework," I said apologetically, pulling out my binders and books. He looked on with interest, occasionally asking what something meant or was. He was extremely helpful with science.

"Ironic that we're studying wind and weather when you show up," I joked as he explained thermals in detail. He grinned, lighting up the rapidly-darkening room, then yawned impressively.

"Wow, that whole wall disappeared," I commented smirking.

"All the b-b-better tahh eat you with," he mumbled, trying to stifle another yawn. I glanced down at my watch and cursed.

"Crap, it's almost 9:30," I read, cramming the books into my bag. I'd finished long ago, but we had been reading up on birds and bone structure.

"'Night," he said, standing up and stretching his arms up and his wings out, wincing slightly as his wounds pulled.

"'Night," I answered. "There isn't a bed up there, though. It's just a futon, or a mattress, and a ton of blankets and pillows. It's pretty comfortable, though. Sorry, Sue wouldn't let me put a bed in he-," I stopped when he snickered.

"A mattress room filled with blankets and pillows? That's the most comfortable place I've ever slept," he said. "Cage, remember?"

I nodded, chuckling and heading out.

"See ya." I skip-ran back to the house, shivering.

After a long, hot shower, and changing into my favorite pajamas: green pants with black and white penguins, and a black tanktop, I tumbled into bed. It was nearly ten thirty. I threw my hair up into a couple of braids, then fell asleep.

**((Sorry for the long wait! More reviews make me post faster, though:) Oh, and there's a poll on my profile that would make me go incredibly fast if I got two or three people to do! DON'T READ THE PROFILE!! Or at least skip the character parts. Those give the whole story away. I mean it, don't read it.**

**Oh, and next chapter will have lots more action in it, hopefully. This one was very tame. Next will be **_**wild!**_


	5. The Ring

_I know I can stop the pain_

_If I will it all away_

_Don't turn away_

_(Don't give in to the pain)_

_Don't try to hide_

_(Though they're screaming your name)_

_Don't close your eyes_

_(God knows what lies behind them)_

_Don't turn out the light_

_(Never sleep never die)_

**((Hi! This chapter is a bit more graphic. By graphic I mean violent, action-packed, and vulgar (swearing). But I think it's pretty good.**

**Thanks to: Nova Ride. I know, just one itsy-bitsy review, but I couldn't stand it. I had this chapter already done, and the last chapter wasn't very exciting at all. Maybe a cliffie will encourage you all to do better. I did, however, get two votes on the poll on my profile. (Read rant last chapter: profile warning. I'm not kidding, don't do it.) I can't see who voted since it's anonymous, but thanks anyways! You know who you are, give yourself a smile.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, the flock, the School, the erasers, or the Microsoft Word processor that I typed this up on. Or the song **Whisper** by Evanescence that the lyrics above are from that my sister and I have an amazing duet goin on for. Boo yeah.**

**Claimer: I own Eli, Polo, Trent, Sam, Sue, Molt, all of the Owesome Characters (OC's) and a big chunk of this plot. I own this laptop that I typed this up on, and not really much else. I do own the fabulicious singing skills that you might hear echoing from my bedroom if you cared to drive all the way to my house and listen. But then I'd be forced to call the police and have a restraining order placed on you, and then give you a hug for being my most devoted reader and my first stalker. (Actually, I'm pretty sure that this kid at my school is my first stalker, but I'm not 100 percent positive.)**

Eli

"BZZZZT! BZZZZT! BZZZZT!"

I flopped a hand down on the side table, reaching for the blue, plastic alarm clock. Muffled curses came out from my pillow as I strained for the 'snooze' button. Finally, I rolled over, nearly falling off the bed, and hit the button. I groaned, long and loud. I heard a faint sound in my room, and my head shot up, fatigue replaced with pure adrenaline energy.

"Easy there," a voice said. My shoulders slumped, head flopping back down onto my pillow. A sound that might have been a 'hello' came from the pillow.

"Good morning to you, too," Polo said. Slowly, agonizingly, I dragged myself out of my bed, hair rumpled, pajamas askew, and looking very bedraggled over all. Polo loitered in my room while I packed, wrestled my hair flat, and changed (in the bathroom, of course,).

"I'm not sure what you'd like to do while I'm at school. I left the peanut butter, crackers, beef jerky, drinks, and other snacks in the playhouse. You can borrow money from me to get a proper meal at a restaurant nearby, my purse is in the bottom drawer of the bedside table," I said while he helped me put all of my bags on.

"Don't worry about money. You know about Max's credit card, right?" he said. I nodded. "It's been passed down through the mutants since she and the flock went off the map." I stared at him in surprise.

"Really? You've got it? Can I see?" I asked excitedly. It wasn't that I wanted to steal the pin number or anything, I just wanted to see it, knowing that the characters from my book had used it multiple times.

Just as I had dreamed, it looked just like a normal credit card, but said 'Maximum Ride' on it. This was the very same thing that Max had held twenty years ago when she found it in a gutter, with Jeb talking inside her head, telling her that it was hers.

"Awesome," I crooned, turning it over in my hands. He smiled, and I passed it back to him. "What are you going to do all day?"

"Dunno. Hang out, scout around, get some food, clothes, and bathroom stuff… I might use your laptop, if I may," he said teasingly. I laughed.

"Sure. What for?"

"Fang's Blog lives," he said cryptically with a cackle. I was about to ask more, but Sue began shouting up the stairs. Something about lazy teenage hooligans.

"Bye," I called, stumbling down the stairs. I thought I heard a ruffling of wings taking off on my way down. When I got on the bus, I saw one crow in the sky that was a bit bigger than the others, and farther up. A hand waved, and I smiled.

School was pretty boring, as usual. Aced a science test, and acted as though my, sorry, _Sam's_ book was just a book, nothing more and nothing less.

It wasn't until lunch that things spiced up a lot.

"Hey, I saw you with some guy out on the trails," Trent sneered. Trent was the cockiest, horniest, and dumbest guy in the school. He had great looks, and I had liked him for a while. He had dirty blonde hair spiked and gelled, handsome green eyes, was tall, was incredibly sporty, and had a six pack. About 98 percent of the girls in the school liked him. I was part of the two percent who loathed him with the burning passion of a thousand suns. Translation: I hate him.

"Yeah, so?" I retorted, acting careless. I was surprised that my heart didn't just burst out of my chest and run away, it was beating so fast. He had seen Polo? How much did he see?

"Who was he? I didn't recognize him, but then, I don't know many of the emo kids," he shot back. It was a dangerous game we played: act cool, calm, unworried, but never show that anger, or you're toast. Emily had forgotten her assignment book in the French room, so she'd run back to get it. She fawned over Trent, shocked that I despised him so.

"He's not emo, he's not my boyfriend, he's not goth, and he's not from this school," I sighed, acting exasperated.

"So he's from Greenburg?" Greenburg: nearby town, home of the hated Vikings sports team.

"No. He's homeschooled," I said, and regretted it instantly.

"He's homeschooled?" Trent asked in disgust. "Is he gay, then? Or nerdy?"

"No. Does he look like it?"

"Not really. How do you know that he's not gay?" He fake gasped, a malicious glint in his eyes. "You are going out with him, aren't you!"

"Nooo," I pronounced the word carefully, saying it slowly and clearly as if he was stupid. I would love to say that he was stupid, but his perfect grades proved otherwise. 'Course, he wasn't the only one with a straight-A average for all nine years of his education, with only a B in seventh grade for failing a social studies test. But really, who cares about history? Not me!

"Right, riight, suuure," he said, smirking. We turned to the catwalk, which was empty of students and cameras. He walked closer to me. "So you don't have a boyfriend?"

"_Vrai_," I confirmed. (_Vrai _means true in French. There's your daily vocabulary word.)

Suddenly, I felt something no girl wants to feel from a guy she hates. A hand touched my bottom in a rude way.

"Nice ass," Trent commented, walking closer to me. I squeaked from anger and surprise.

I'll never really be sure about what happened next.

One moment, Trent was there pinching my ass, and the next, he was sprawled on the other side of the hall, me standing over him with a foot on his throat. Surprise and shock first showed on his face, then a look of anger so pure that I was sure (didn't mean to rhyme there, honest.) he melted my eyebrows. I returned the look, and then he grabbed my foot, yanking my leg.

Instinct and something else buried deep took over, and I fell with it, using my momentum and gravity to land a hard knee in his stomach, and then we were on the side of the hall that we'd started out on, him pinned up against the wall by a- _my,_ hand. Undiluted strength shot through my body, giving me a tingle of pleasure in my spine and shoulders. I saw myself reflected on the glass of a janitor's closet beside him. It was my turn to be shocked. My eyes were an eerie maroon, and the dark red of my hair was extremely evident. There was nothing of the kind, laughing, slightly awed Eli in this girl's face.

_Sam,_ I thought, surprising myself. This wasn't Eli, this was Sam. Her face was locked in a soundless snarl of rage, revealing teeth that were too sharp for comfort. She looked strong, powerful, filled with inhuman rage, grace, and might. Trent? She could snap him like a twig. Humans were nothing, just like rats. There were only two reasons they survived these thousands of years: because they'd discovered how to use other things to get the work done, and there were billions of them. They were rats, nothing more. They were a plague on the earth, destroying everything they touched.

I realized that I was holding a boy against a wall by his throat, giving him death glares. I wasn't strangling him, but his face was still turning red. Quickly, I pulled my hand away and looked at it in slight confusion. What had just happened? Trent looked like he was going into shock, so I just picked up my books and binders from the floor (how had they gotten there?) and walked away, fast.

I was in a daze the rest of the day, doing things without really noticing. I had to have the teachers repeat their questions, and Emily was puzzled.

"What happened? You were so cheery this morning, and now it's like you're not even here," she commented. I just shook my head. I wish I knew.

Polo

I loitered in her room for most of the day, logging onto Fang's blog. Along with Max's credit card, the password and login for his blog had been passed down through the mutants, and whenever some lucky mutant escaped (which was extremely rare,) they would log on and post the going-ons on there. There had been rumors of a secret group of mutants hiding somewhere in America, posting daily, but nobody was really sure.

I stared at the screen in slight surprise. Somebody had been posting often. Not a mutant from the Home, someone else. Or some people.

_Hello again! Sorry that none of us have posted much lately, an eraser squad found us. Again. We managed to escape, though Missy got caught. Don't worry, we got her back before she got far. They had a helicopter, and Karma managed to cling to the bottom and pull her out when they were distracted by me, 'cause I'd flown in front of it and made a twig look like a gun. Handy illusions, apparently they weren't ready for it. He untied her in the air, can you believe it? He was almost too slow, they were nearly ten feet from the ground before she was able to flap. Shook her up really bad, but she's fine now. Little Zane cried, he thought she was going to die. And poor Karma, his feathers got horribly tangled from the downdraft of the helicopter. We've got them preened again, though, so no harm done!_

_We found another Itex base, but remember to not attack! Fang did good the first time the kids attacked, but we don't want any casualties like last time. I'm still surprised that Itex would be so cold-blooded to kill innocent kids. Well, not really innocent, but still. This Itex base is in Pennsylvania, near the capitol. Can't remember the name, we were in and out fast. So, don't forget, do NOT attack!_

**Posted by Carlos**

Whaat? This made no sense. Polo worked his way back through the posts until he found an introduction one.

_Greetings to all! Bet you thought Fang's Blog was dead, didn't you! I hope we didn't loose too many readers due to the long break. Nine years is a really long time, all of you are probably grown up now. Introductions:_

_Carlos, male, age 14, white, red hair, green eyes, off-white wings with red freckles. Leader. Can create illusions._

_Bekka, female, age 13, white, blond hair, grey eyes, dark grey wings with light grey feather tips. Karma's sister. Can talk to animals._

_Karma, male, age 11, white, blond hair, gray eyes, grey wings with black feather tips. Bekka's brother. Is unbelievably fast._

_Missy, female, age 9, African-American, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, light tan wings with dark brown bands. Can create large winds and sense vibes (if someone is evil/good or has evil/good intentions)_

_Zane, male, age 6, white, black hair, hazel eyes, black wings with golden speckles. Can change appearance at will (the description above is what he usually looks like, so we figure it's what he is naturally.)_

_That's us. We're the new flock, and we hope to follow in their footsteps and contrails._

_Stay soaring!_

**Posted by Carlos**

Wow. Another flock that escaped some… two years ago? Eli _had_ to see this. Quickly, I posted.

_Carlos? I hope I didn't miss you guys. My name is Polotheus, Polo for short, and I just escaped from the Home. In case you don't know, it's another lab like the School. I don't know how long I've got before I get caught, but I know that it isn't long. The Home is in northern Maine. Look for the Aroostook River and follow it north until it branches near a swamp. There's usually moose in the swamp. Follow that, and you'll find the Home. But I'm not there right now, I'm with someone who we can trust. _

_I'll meet you at a park on the opposite end of the Aroostook River. You can't miss it, it has a giant, electric-blue slide and a huge sign that says 'Gary Memorial Park'. I'll go there every day at three-ish, checking for you guys. Every day I come, I'll leave a stone on the top of the slide. If there's less stones than there is from the day you get there to today, then they've got me. I can only hope that you find this before the erasers do. _

_Please hurry._

**Posted by Polo**

I signed off, then jumped as the phone rang. I glanced at the clock. Three thirty, Eli should be on her way back from school now. The phone showed Eli's cell phone number, so I picked it up.

"Polo?" she said quickly, her voice shaky and scared. I instantly went on hyper-alert.

"What's wrong?" I answered sharply. Her breathing was fast and frightened.

"I just got a call. I think it's from _them._"

"Whaat?"

"Yeah, they said they're coming. Polo, fly away right now." I glanced around the room, already planning what to pack.

"Okay, I'll come and pick you up. Get away from there, and leave your cell phone. They could be tracing it."

"Okay. Bye," she choked out, hanging up. I threw the phone down and began cramming things into two backpacks. I stuffed in her laptop, what I hoped was her toothbrush and not Sue's, toothpaste, a hairbrush, deodorant… then began stuffing my bathroom stuff into it. I jammed in her clothes and my clothes that I'd just bought that day with Max's card, then dove from the window and glided to the playhouse. I crammed in the snacks, my other stuff, two blankets, and took one last look around, making sure I hadn't left anything. I threw open the door, both backpacks in my hands, and was met with a huge, hairy fist.

"Miss me?" a voice snarled right before the punch smashed into my chest, knocking me back into the playhouse. I looked up, and the eraser was standing above me, a gun aimed at my head.

Molt.

Eli

At the end of the school day, I sat in the cafeteria, waiting with the other students for my bus. I pulled out my cell phone and turned it on as I usually did at that time.

Weird. I had two missed calls, both saying 'PRIVATE' and not listing the number. I jumped and nearly dropped it as it vibrated, and it said 'PRIVATE' again. Same caller. I walked over to the bathrooms and stood inside, flipping it open.

"Hello?" I said casually.

"Hello, Eli," a voice answered. It was male, smooth and full of emotion. It should have been calming, but I tensed instead.

"How do you know my name?" I replied sharply.

"We know a lot about you. We know what you know."

"Oh really? What do I know?" I retorted.

"Too much. Far too much."

"What do you mean?"

"You. Know. Too. Much. We can't have that now, can we?"

I just listened in shock.

"We're going to have to take care of that little problem. End it, put it to rest. Say goodbye," it said in that sickeningly sweet, creamy voice.

The line went dead, playing the dial tone. I stood frozen for a moment, then speed-dialed home.

"Polo?" I said when someone picked up. My voice was shaking.

"What's wrong?" he answered.

"I just got a call. I think it's from _them._"

"Whaat?"

"Yeah, they're coming. Polo, fly away right now."

"Okay. I'll come and pick you up. Get away from there, and leave your cell phone. They could be tracing it." I began breathing hard with fear.

"Okay. Bye." I hung up, dropped the phone on the floor, and kicked it under the sinks. I started to turn back to the cafeteria, but realized it wouldn't be safe. They would expect me to go that way. I spun and threw open the window at the end of the bathroom, glad that nobody was in the stalls. One hard kick took out the screen, and I hit the ground running. But as I turned a corner and went for the woods, an arm shot out and clothes lined me. I fell, gasping since the wind had been knocked out of me, and saw something standing above me that I'd only seen in dreams and in my writing.

Eraser.

**((ahaha! Better review now or I won't post again! Four is the number I'm looking for! Constructive criticism is accepted, as long as it's not flaming. Even a hello is good!))**


	6. Kidnapped, Kaught, and Karma

_They taped over your mouth_

_Scribbled out the truth with their lies_

_You little spies_

_They taped over your mouth_

_Scribbled out the truth with their lies_

_You little spies_

_Crush_

_Crush_

_Crush_

_Crush, crush_

**((Wowzers! Quick reviews make redfeatherz happy!**

**Thanks to: Someone aka Me, Nova Ride, LovinaHolmes, .))**

Carlos

"Hey, Carlos. Carlos!" Bekka whispered in my ear. I moaned, starting to roll over, then remembered that I was sleeping in a tree, the smells of pine surrounding me. Oh, right.

"Mfflrggh," I mumbled, untangling myself from my blanket. "Wha's goin' on?" A quick glance up at the sky showed that the sun was setting. Four PM. We'd slept during the day for a change, since we'd just flown for ages, nearly got caught by erasers, found an Itex base, and stole Missy back from a helicopter. And you think a two-hour soccer practice is tiring? Think again.

"We've got another escapee," she said shortly, carrying the laptop over. We'd stolen it two years ago when we escaped from the remains of the School. Yes, the first flock had destroyed it, but it was built back. We accidentally-on-purpose burned it to the ground in our escape, and salvaged what we could from the rubble.

I was awake instantly at the word 'escapee'.

"What? Who? How did you find out?" I said quickly, opening Fang's Blog.

"I couldn't sleep, so I opened up Fang's Blog to post again and to maybe find a nice YouTube video for our readers, and found this." 'This' was a post, written by someone named Polo.

_Carlos? I hope I didn't miss you guys. My name is Polotheus, Polo for short, and I just escaped from the Home. In case you don't know, it's another lab like the School. I don't know how long I've got before I get caught, but I know that it isn't long. The Home is in northern Maine. Look for the Aroostook River and follow it north until it branches near a swamp. There's usually moose in the swamp. Follow that, and you'll find the Home. But I'm not there right now, I'm with someone who we can trust. _

_I'll meet you at a park on the opposite end of the Aroostook River. You can't miss it, it has a giant, electric-blue slide and a huge sign that says 'Gary Memorial Park'. I'll go there every day at three-ish, checking for you guys. Every day I come, I'll leave a stone on the top of the slide. If there's less stones than there is from the day you get there to today, then they've got me. I can only hope that you find this before the erasers do. _

_Please hurry._

**Posted by Polo**

I swore silently. The time posted said 3:30 PM, today. I re-read it as fast as I could, memorizing the route described. Bekka was already waking the others up, greeted with low enthusiasm. I began packing, and Karma helped. I could tell that everyone was riled up. A gentle wind was gusting around, showing that Missy was excited. Zane's eyes were flashing different colors in a dizzying speed, Karma was trembling slightly, and Bekka, of course, was showing no emotion.

Once we were all packed, I gave them a briefing, feeling a bit like Max from the first flock. We didn't call ourselves the flock. We were the flight.

"All right, everyone. We've got an escapee. His name is Polo, and we're to get to Maine as fast as we can. I've looked at a map online and mostly memorized it. We've got to get to the Aroostook River, and then to Gary Memorial Park. He said we can't miss it. Is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded.

"Can I scout ahead?" Karma asked, always full of energy that he was dying to use. I hesitated, then nodded.

"Be careful. There should be one stone at the top of the slide. If there isn't, then don't stop. Get right back here as fast as you can." He grinned, then ran out of the trees to the clearing that we'd been using for take-offs and landings. The pine needles didn't feel great on wings.

"Come on," I said grimly, charging after him. Four sets of wings beat hard, and four kids took off.

Polo

Great. I had led the erasers right to Eli. And the erasers weren't taking any risks. My wrists were bound behind me, then my arms bound to my torso, my wings tied to my arms and torso, my feet, knees, and legs tied, and then tape over all the ropes. So I was practically a big lump of tape and rope.

My internal directional senses told me that we were going northwest, toward where Eli's bus had gone. I only hoped that she'd gotten away in time, and wouldn't come for me. Actually, part of me wanted her to come. Then I would have some company, or she might get me out (as if,) or, at best, she would become a mutant like me. But it wasn't smart to think like that.

No, my best chance was for the second flock to get here. Hopefully, they would realize that I hadn't put today's stone up. Unless they thought that I wasn't going to put one today, and tomorrow would be the first day. I hadn't been exactly clear with my message.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid,_ I scolded myself. The erasers might harm Sue, or Eli, or search the history on her laptop and find out about the new flock. Not good. Or they might hurt one of Eli's friend's from her picture album. I had been looking at that, figuring out some things that humans took for granted. I learned from TV that the machine really was a snowmobile, and they could go really fast. I learned about ATV's, different clothes brands, what was in style now, snowblowers, where Pennsylvania really was, and figured out that it would take the new flock about four hours to get to the Home. Three with no stops, going at top speed.

Maybe they could send Karma ahead. He had extreme speed, according to the introduction. Carlos's talents with illusions would be a needed bonus, and maybe Missy could make a wind to help give them more speed. Maybe they would 'borrow' a car like the flock had. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

Great.

Eli

All I could do was stare up at him. He paused his evil grin-posing, and frowned.

"Well? Are you going to just sit there, or are you going to run?" he said in a creamy voice. I wasn't sure that my legs would work. All I could think was _crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap, I'm dead and so is Polo, crapcrapcrapcrapcrap._ Polo. These were the guys who'd tortured him his entire life. I thought of all the dreams I'd had of the flock being thrown into cages, pummeled to the ground, attacked all the time.

Pure anger blossomed inside me, washing away everything else. I felt that 'something else' rising inside me, making my veins burn pleasantly, then the fire turning inside-out, putting everything in an icy clarity. I could see every scar and burr in the eraser's hairy face.

He hesitated, his snarl and powerful act drooping for a moment. I remembered the crimson eyes and hair that I'd seen in my reflection, the sharp teeth and predatory look.

I remember moving, but I don't remember making myself move. I was on autopilot, and Sam was back.

She lifted both legs and dealt a hard kick to the eraser's… place where no man wants to be hit. He doubled over, huffing, and she kicked him in the face when he bent down. Now he was lying on the ground, but Sam could hear another two or three erasers rounding the corner. With a curse, she was up and running toward the woods. But it was too late, they saw her. Giant wings lifted from their shoulders and they pursued her through the woods. She felt no fear, just exhilaration and adrenaline.

However, I felt lots of fear, but not from the erasers. I was worried about myself and if Sam was really taking over. The fear of myself that I'd felt after half-strangling Trent returned, and Sam faded.

I blinked to discover that I was running through the woods at an inhuman speed. But the energy surge left, and I was running at normal speeds. I heard flapping behind me, and turned to see three erasers barrel down on me, pig-piling me to the ground. A fist smashed into my face, and blackness swallowed me.

Polo

The van we were in stopped, and I slid into the backs of the seats with a painful groan. The doors opened, and I couldn't see for a moment. The sun was setting right behind a couple of black figures, so I couldn't really see. I snapped my eyes shut, and heard a 'thunk' as something or someone else was thrown in. Then the doors closed, shutting out the painful light. My eyes opened.

It took a moment for me to adjust back to the darkness, but then I saw a girl about my age lying on the floor, tied like me, and blinking wearily. She looked vaguely familiar, but when I saw her eyes, I decided that I didn't know her.

She had dark red eyes, the color of drops of blood. Her hair matched, a deep red-brown, and her teeth were too sharp. She had sharp fingernails that looked claw-like, and something else I couldn't pick out. She had the that I'd seen on one boy in the cage beside me, a strange face. The boy had been part-snake, and his face had a predatory… evil look to it. Almost demonic.

She moaned, and in the darkness, I saw her eyes lightening. As I watched, the red leeched from her eyes and hair, fading to a golden-brown with only a hint of the red in it. Her teeth returned to normal, human teeth, and her claw-like fingernails shortened. She took a ragged breath, and looked up at me.

"Oh. Hey Polo. Wish I could say I was happy to see you, but I'm not, 'cause then you wouldn't be here, caught," Eli greeted as I stared at her in shock. "What?" she said, noticing my look.

"You… you just, _changed_, into some… thing," I stammered, then shook my head. "You're a mutant? Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"Whaat? Listen, all I know is that my brain is malfunctioning. This morning, I was talking to this kid, and he… did something really rude, and suddenly I was pinning him against the wall. Then, I got caught by erasers beside the school, and then I was running in the woods and they got me. And now I'm here," she finished lamely.

"But… you just had red eyes, and hair, and fangs and claws…" I trailed off at her look of disbelief.

"No, I didn't. I would remember something like that," she answered curtly.

"You did! Quit lying, I know now. I thought you being the writer was your last secret," I shot back. She curled her lip.

"Really? I'm sorry that I didn't live up to your standards. Sorry that I don't know what the hell you're talking about, and that I kept a single secret from you while I risked my life, Sue's life, everything I know, just to let you hide in my house. Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't _be_ here!" she snarled. I recoiled. She noticed that she'd found a weakness, and dug deeper. "I would be sitting safely on the bus right now if not for you. You and all the other mutants think you're better than humans. Even the flock thought humans were scum! So I intrude into your little world, and you take advantage of my hospitality, dig up all of my secrets, pull me into a huge fight that the government doesn't know about, get me caught by freaking werewolf things, and then accuse me of not telling you something that _I didn't even know!_"

I struggled to come up with something hurtful to say back, but I was stinging too much from her blows to think.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled. She just gave me a look of pure hatred and contempt.

"Leave me the hell alone," she spat.

Carlos

We'd been flying for about two hours, and I thought we were getting close. About half-way there. But we were hungry, as Missy constantly reminded me. Missy was the spitting image of Nudge, and acted exactly like her. As far as I could tell, at least. I'd never seen the flock except in pictures on Fang's Blog. And on there, Nudge never stopped talking.

"Really, though, I'm really hungry. And thirsty, more thirsty than hungry. We should get those Camelbak water things, that would be so cool! They're like little flat backpacks, but have a big bag of water in it, and there's these tubes with mouthpieces that you bite down on and water comes out. Then we wouldn't have to stop for water as much. But then we'd need food, of course. I would fill mine with that strawberry soda stuff from Louisiana. Or was it Mississippi? I can spell Mississippi, I heard a cool rhyme. M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. Hey, they spell my name in it! Missy! But with an 'i' and not a 'y'. Hey, that rhymed! 'I' and 'y'! I-Y-I-Y-I-Y, that sounds kind of owie in a weird accent. Australian? Oh, Australian guys are always so hot! Mmmm, I could eat them! But that would be gross, and then I'd be a cannibal, or an eraser. That was really scary when that eraser grabbed me, but good thing Karma is so fast! He's like a bullet, do you think he's there yet? He's like a jet, or a falcon, or-," she broke off when I gave her a look. Motormouth Missy.

"We'll stop at the next town, grab some grub, and then hit the skies," I called to everyone. Zane was looking exhausted, and I decided to carry him for an hour after we finished eating. He didn't weigh more than fifty pounds, with his hollow bones and young age. He could sleep for a while.

We stopped at a restaurant, instead of a fast-food. We needed real energy, not grilled burgers and greasy fries.

The lady gave us a look when she seated us, but the rest was smooth. The waitress looked very skeptical when we each ate two or three plates heaped with food, (mostly spaghetti, lasagna, fish, and bread. We needed carbs, and lots of them) but she perked up a lot after I paid the bill with money I'd removed from an ATM machine after we scared some guy off and borrowed his card. We also gave her a twenty-dollar tip.

We'd been in the air for about an hour when Bekka drifted over to fly in close formation with me. I felt a balloon filling up in my chest, like I always felt when she came near. Alright, so I liked her a bit. Only a tiny, miniscule, atom-sized much.

"What's up?" I asked, sensing her nervousness.

"Worried about Karma. He should be back by now," she replied shortly. Bekka wasn't exactly very talkative. She was the Fang or Iggy of the flight.

With a start, I realized that I'd forgotten about him. I mentally snapped a mental rubber band on my wrist. _Bad Carlos!_ I thought.

"Yeah. He probably just stopped somewhere and forgot about our mission for a while. You know him." Karma had the shortest attention span ever. His attention shifted as fast as he could run, which was really fast.

"I don't know. I've got a bad feeling about this," she mumbled. "You probably didn't notice, but I asked a crow if he'd seen anything. He was heading the opposite way as us, and just yammered something about werewolves and kept going. Then, I asked another one, and she had more sense. She told me that she'd heard over the grapevine that something was up in Aroostook. There'd been some sightings of a human with black wings, and her brother saw him fall. Then, she saw a girl get chased by wolf people. I don't know about the girl, but I do know the guy must have been Polo."

"Whaat?" I said, startled that she hadn't told me earlier. "Why didn't you say something?"

"I just did, didn't I?" she answered coolly. I ran a hand through my hair impatiently.

"I just hope Karma gets back soon and has one hell of an excuse for taking so long and worrying me. We're almost there."

Eli

I sat silently as our van-truck thing bumped along a road. There weren't any windows in the back, and a wall separated us from the front where the erasers sat. I had a vague idea that we were going north again. Polo would know because of his internal directional senses, but I wasn't in any mood to ask him.

The truck-van stopped with a screech of brakes, sending Polo and I careening into the wall. He swore angrily, shifting away from the wall awkwardly with all of the ropes and tape. I just sat up.

After a few minutes of sitting there, the van stopped and wondering what was going on, the doors opened. I closed my eyes against the bright setting sun, and heard a noise as something else was thrown in with us. _Great. More people. Let's have a party,_ I thought hysterically. The doors closed, and I opened my eyes.

Struggling to sit up was a young boy, only about 11 years old. He had blonde hair and gray eyes with their intense gaze locked on Polo and me. A trill of fear went through me as he twisted into a sitting position. On his back were wings like Polo's, but not as big and grey with black feather tips. What was with this week? I'd met two mutants in the last two days, beaten the heck out of some kid, gotten chased down by wolf men, and was sitting in the back of a van, tied and taped.

"Uhmm, hi," he said. "You must be Pete, no, Polo," he added, looking at Polo. Polo nodded.

"And you're… Karma?" Polo asked.

"Yeah, the others sent me to scout ahead so I could find out what's going on. I'm the fastest," he said proudly. Polo nodded again.

"How far behind are Carlos and the others?" Polo said.

"Not far. They should be getting to the park soon. I ran from the erasers for a while, they only just got me when these airheads joined them," Karma replied, nodding toward the front of the truck where the erasers had started driving again.

"Good. I hope they realize they need to get to the Home soon," Polo said fervently. I decided it was time to find out what was going on.

"Excuse me, this is all interesting and such, but where did you come from? I thought the flock destroyed all of the other labs, and the Home was the last one! Who are Carlos and the others? And why," I said, bearing down on Polo, "the _hell_ didn't you tell me that you had friends?"

They stared at me for a moment after this outburst.

"Who's she?" Karma asked Polo. Polo started to answer, but was silenced by my death glare.

"This is Karma. I only just found out about them today," Polo said apologetically.

"Who's 'them'?" I snapped.

"The new flock. They escaped from the school two years ago, and have been on the run ever since. They're Carlos, the leader, Bekka, Karma (they're siblings,), Missy, and Zane. Carlos is fourteen, Bekka is thirteen, Karma is 11, Missy is 9, and Zane is 6. They've all got wings, and different powers. Carlos can make illusions, Bekka can talk to animals, Karma is really fast, Missy can control the wind and sort of sense vibes, like who's evil and who's good, and Zane can change his appearance," Polo said breathlessly. I took a moment to take it all in.

"We're called the flight, actually," Karma added in helpfully. "And the flock did destroy most of Itex and a lot of labs, thanks to a lot of bombs." When he said 'bombs', his face lit up. I could tell that he was a Gazzy. "But they missed the Home and a small bit of Itex up here in Maine. Nobody thought something like this would be in Maine, since it's so cold and low profile and…" he broke off, searching for a word.

"Unremarkable? Boring? Out of the way? Out of sight, out of mind?" I suggested. He nodded.

"So they rebuilt a lot of it, dishing out money that they'd stored up in case something like that happened. Most of it has been rebuilt."

"Great," I said sarcastically. I turned to say something to Polo, but I forgot when I saw his face. It was filled with fear and anxiety, like a cornered animal faced with a gun, knowing that it was going to die.

"You okay?" I asked softly. He shook his head.

"We're here," he whispered as the truck stopped. "Welcome Home."


	7. Complications and Transformations

_One last thing I beg you please just before you go_

_I've watched you fly on paper wings halfway around the world_

_Until they burned up in the atmosphere and sent you spiraling down_

_Landing somewhere far from here with no one else around_

_To catch you falling down_

_And I'm looking at you now_

_I can't tell if you're laughing_

_Between each smile there's a tear in your eye_

_There's a train leaving town in an hour_

_It's not waiting for you and neither am I_

**((OMIGOD! I'm really excited! I'm going downstate this weekend to stay in a condo with a bunch of family friends and the boys basketball team!!! I'm so wound up now there's no word for it! It's just going to be my sister and I, no little brother or mom or dad!! –screams- WOOT!!**

**Thanks to: Someone aka Me, LovinaHolmes ))**

Polo

Great. The infamous Home. When the truck/van stopped, we all slid into the wall. Again. I half landed on Eli, and we struggled to untangle ourselves. Her hair brushed against my face as we squirmed away, and I caught the intoxicating scent of oranges. _Yum,_ I thought, then scolded myself. _No! Not yum! She just freaked out at you, you just ruined her life, stopstopstop._ But even as she pulled away, I couldn't help but take a last, unnoticed breath.

The doors opened, and I noticed with slight relief that it was dark. It was winter in Maine, the sun sets at about four thirty. The sky was clear and, though the moon hadn't risen yet, I knew it would be a full one. I know, there's only one full moon and two others that look like it, but I think of it as the three full nights. It added the perfect touch to this story, a full moon on a cloudless night filled with wolf men. Ironic how things work out like that. **((A/N: I couldn't help it, I had to have a full moon. They're always in stories, and I couldn't resist. ;D sorry.))**

Two erasers roughly pulled out Karma and Eli, and Molt took care of me, slinging me over his shoulder like a sack with a harsh laugh.

"Hope you enjoyed your day of freedom!" he cackled. "It'll be your last!"

"Okay, Molt. Whatever you say," I said in a perky, happy tone. I earned a bang against the doorframe for my wit.

It wasn't until we got inside that things got scary. It wasn't even the experiments that got me worried. It was that the erasers went in separate directions, Molt and I in one, Karma and Eli in another. At least Eli had Karma for comfort.

"Miss your cozy cage?" Molt sneered. I snorted.

"No."

"Good, 'cause you're not going back there yet. You've got to give us your story." My spine tingled. That didn't sound good.

He walked right past the room with my cage in it and took me down an unfamiliar hall. There were six doors, all different. They all had different colors, and each had a single letter etched into it. 'M', 'F', 'I', 'N', 'G', and 'A'. He carried me toward the 'A' one, at the end of the hall. It was white, and something was digging at the back of my mind. Something about the letters seemed familiar. Frustration: when you're a mutant freak in a lab being taken to an ominous room and you can't figure out what's so… familiar about the doors in the hall.

Molt tapped on the door three times. There was a pause, but apparently he heard something, because he twisted the door handle. I was met with a voice I was sure that I'd never heard before, but it still felt vaguely familiar.

"Molt. What do you want now?" The speaker was clearly a female, and sounded resigned and despairing. "Who's this? Another poor soul you want me to interrogate?" I got my first good look at her.

She had curly, golden-blonde hair. Her eyes were big and blue, and she had the sweet look of a little girl. I wondered what she was like when she was little. She was seated on a bed with light blue cover. The entire room was soft colors, mostly gentle blue and white. On the walls, puffy clouds were painted with beautiful white and blue, looking incredibly realistic. She had a white desk in a corner with a little light blue laptop, and a bookshelf coated in books. A little, sad looking pillow sat in the corner. It was white and lambskin-looking, like a doggie bed. A name was stitched onto it, but I couldn't read the cursive, loopy words from my spot. Her brow furrowed for a moment.

"Oh. Hello, Polo. Don't worry, I won't harm you, no matter what this buffoon says," she said gently, glaring at Molt.

Then I saw the wings.

They were hanging limply from her back, as if they were exhausted. Pure white and huge, they finished her angelic look. That's when I realized who this must be.

Yup, you got it.

Angel.

Eli

The erasers took Polo in another direction, and I wondered what they were going to do with him. All my dreams of the flock rushed back, and I immediately felt bad. And to think, the last things I'd said to him was 'leave me the hell alone', and given him dagger glares. Pity and something more bubbled up in me as I helplessly watched at Molt carried him away. _Good job, Eli. Brilliant,_ I thought sarcastically. At least Karma was still with me.

The erasers dumped us into cages. Karma was practically trembling, and I was surprised to notice that I was, too.

"I can't believe it. This is soo not good, we're in a lab. Oh God, hurry up Carlos. You're lucky, you don't have any idea what it's like here," he murmured.

"No, I know what it's like at the School," I whispered back. He gave me a strange look.

"Whaat?"

"Have you heard of that new book, 3XP3R!M3NTAL: Maximum Ride?" I asked. He looked confused.

"Who hasn't? Of course, we were shocked by it. Carlos's face went so white when he saw it, I thought he was going to pass out. Why? Have you…" he paused looking very puzzled, then surprise and shock on his face. "No. No way. Not you, is it?" he gasped. I nodded solemnly. "Oh… Okay, then. Well. So we're screwed right now, aren't we," he said.

"Pretty much."

He opened his mouth to reply, probably some creative swearing, but an eraser approached our cages.

"We will take you to interrogation when Polo is done. Do not try anything," he said blandly. I rolled my eyes. When he walked away, I turned to Karma.

"Interrogation?" I asked. He nodded.

"Usually it involves torture, but Polo will be fine. It's mostly electrocution, nothing deadly," he assured me. I nodded. Great.

I lifted my hair off my neck, taking a deep breath. I was really hot, and it didn't help. I took off my hoodie, thankful that the erasers had been nice enough to untie us when the put us in the cages, and leaned against the cool bars, closing my eyes and ignoring the worried look Karma gave me. Ugh.

Angel **((A/N: Angel uses good vocabulary and such because she can read minds, and she's really smart, since she doesn't have much to do except do stuff on her laptop.))**

"Angel?" Polo gaped. I gave him an angelic smile.

"Yeah. I'm eighteen, and no, I'm not here on purpose. I want to leave just as much as you do, if not, more," I said, answering his next few questions before he had a chance to ask them. I didn't even have to look into his mind, everyone asked those questions. Actually, I hadn't tried going into his mind yet. I was just about to when Molt burst in.

"What do you mean, you're not going to?" Molt snarled. I raised an eyebrow.

"Are you going to make me?" I said coolly, regarding him calmly. His face reddened, and he stammered to retort. I used that moment to go into Polo's mind.

At which point my eyes rolled back and I almost blacked out.

I pulled out instantly, heaving for breath. What was that?!? That'd never happened. Molt's mind was still crystal clear, but Polo's had a mist around it. I tried to go in again, tentatively and slowly. Again, I was assaulted with dizziness, nausea, and it made me feel like I just flew around the world twice. I slumped against the headboard of my bed, breathing heavily.

I realized that Polo had staggered slightly, both times.

"What was that?" he asked, his voice high-pitched and constricted. I shook my head.

"No… no idea. What did you do?" I replied.

"Nothing. I just suddenly got really dizzy. Why? What happened to you?" he said, noticing my bedraggled and shocked look.

"I… I just tried to get into your mind, and it was like…" I paused, searching for the right word. "I don't know. I got really dizzy, my eyes rolled back, and I almost passed out." He looked confused, and I suddenly perked up.

"Molt, you can't interrogate Polo. I can't get in his mind," I said brightly. Molt had just been standing there during the whole episode, looking lost.

"Whaat?" he crowed. I grinned.

"Nope. It just about killed us, you saw it. Vamanos!" I said, opening the door and herding them out.

"Hey, wait! I've got a billion questions for you!" Polo cried, flailing as I guided/pushed him out. I shook my head.

"Later," I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear. He nodded, walking out. I closed the door behind them both and sighed, sliding down it to sit on the floor and put my head on my knees. _This sucks._

Karma

Holy crap. Things were about as bad as they could get. Eli was sitting in her cage, looking worse by the moment. She was covered with sweat, her breathing was labored, and her eyes were moving under their lids, lips moving silently. It was creeping me out.

Meanwhile, Polo still wasn't back, and I had a bad feeling about it. If there was one thing I'd learned from Missy, it's to trust my instincts. And right then, they were screaming, _Something is not right! Nothing is right! Do something!_ If I could do something, I would.

Just as I was about to start tearing my feathers and hair out, Polo was escorted in and shoved into a cage. He looked barely better that Eli, his face pale and hands shaking. He flopped down on the floor or his cage, looking exhausted but content.

"Wha'happened?" I said quickly, and he looked up at me.

"You know, you're the second person to ask me that in the last ten minutes," he said snickering. When I didn't laugh, he became more serious. "Okay. Brace yourself," he warned, and I nodded fast, my head practically vibrating.

"I saw Angel." I took a moment to take it in what he meant.

"Whaat? You mean… _Angel_ Angel?" I gaped. He nodded.

"She's their interrogation system, but she's there against her will. I think the whole flock is here," he whispered, and went on to describe his whole episode.

All I could do was stare. Angel? The flock?

"She couldn't get in, but they're coming for you or Eli soon. Angel might not be able to get into my head, but you or-," he broke off, looking at Eli in surprise. "What's wrong with her?" he asked urgently. I turned, and saw that she hadn't gotten any better.

"I don't know. She's been like that for a while, since a few minutes after you left." He swore explosively, and I jumped.

"Shit! Something is really wrong with her," he muttered. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, duh."

"No, I mean more than this."

"More than _this?_ She looks like death," I pointed out. It was his turn to roll his eyes.

"Thanks. That's encouraging."

"So, what else is wrong with her?"

"She wrote a book."

"Yeah, Maximum Ride. She told me." He looked surprised for a moment, then I saw something else in his face. Anger? Jealousy?

"She's some sort of mutant."

"Yeah, sh- _what?!?_" I cried, eyes blasting wide open.

"Apparently, if she gets too angry, her hair and eyes go dark red, and she gets weirdly fast, strong, and has amazing senses. She just found out today, I guess," he explained. "And her teeth get too sharp, and her fingernails become… claw-ish."

A long pause followed as we both thought, broken only by a faint whispering sound coming from Eli.

"Well, this is strange. What do you get when you put the flock, the flight, you, Eli, erasers, the Home, and a book that wasn't supposed to be written?" I said. Polo shrugged.

"What?" he replied.

"No clue. I'm adding two and two, and getting eleventeen." He didn't smile, just stared at Eli, his face inscrutable. I sighed and hoped the flight was coming soon.


	8. Breaking Rank

Angel

_As we were, so perfect, so happy.  
They'll remember, only your smiles 'cause that's all they've seen.  
Long since dried, when we are found, are the tears in which we had drowned.  
As we were, so perfect, so happy._

Our cracking voices became part of the music.  
The car pressed on faster through the night. As our voices lowered,  
the cadence again overtook the air.  
Up ahead there was a curve approaching.  
She made no indications of slowing.

**((Hey again! So sorry for the long wait, I've been at my Aunt's house. It's in Maine, so that's why most of my stories have stuff about Maine in it. I love it up there! There was so much snow! I stood on the snowbanks and almost hit my head on the telephone wires, no joke! I could look down at my mother's SUV! Yeah, lots of snow. I counted seven buildings within some ten miles of her house that had caved under all the snow on the roof.**

**Thanks to: LovinaHolmes, Someone aka me, MaximumRide101, and Nova Ride.**

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Max, or Fang, or Angel, or any of the rest of the flock. I don't own the basic idea of genetic hybrids and psycho labs.**

_**Claimer:**_** I do own the plot, and the flight, and Polo, and Molt, and Eli. I also own this laptop that I'm typing this on, despite the fact that my parents take it away way too much. –grumbles- stupid parent dictatorship… democracy my butt…))**

Angel

I glared at the door of my room, or more like jail. There was no word for what I was feeling. I needed to escape, right then. It would likely be painful, and I would probably get seriously injured in my attempt unless I somehow got the others. The others, being the rest of the flock.

Slowly, almost like I was underwater, I moved through my room, touching things and remembering. A tiny shell made me think of when I'd made the sharks wave at the flock, and when Max tried to cut the chip out. A short, green wire brought up memories of when Gazzy and Iggy blew up the basement of Itex. A tube of lip gloss that reminded me of Fang and Max's first kiss. A little tooth represented Nudge's obsession with eating and talking. And a shred of leather, things that had once been but never would be again. Such small, insignificant things meant so much to me.

With a sudden movement, I pushed everything into a backpack and continued my circuit of the room, stuffing only necessities into my bag. I was getting out. A deep breath helped steady my nerves, then I tentatively reached out with my mind.

There isn't really any way I can describe how mind reading works to you. It's just an extra sense that I use just as a human would use sight, or hearing. As soon as the edges of my consciousness touched the minds of the others, I felt them all sit up, alert instantly.

_Angel, honey? What's going on?_ Max thought. I linked our minds, so it was like a telephone. They all heard everything, what each other was thinking and what I was 'telling' them.

_We're getting out. Now,_ I told them briskly. I was met with various levels of surprise.

_What? How?_ Fang thought over the turmoil of everyone else. Fang's mind had always been a bit harder for me to reach, as if I was trying to read someone's mind who was far away, on the other side of a few walls, and surrounded by loud, screaming music.

_Like we used to. We're going to bust out, grab Polo, Karma, and Eli, then make a break for it._

_Who's that? Polo, like, Marco Polo? Remember how we used to play that in the air! Iggy would always win, it wasn't fair. Karma? That's like, the stuff that gets back at you if you do bad stuff, right? And Eli? What's that? Eli, that's a pretty name I-_

_Nudge, please,_ Iggy supplied, allowing everyone a deep sigh of relief. Nudge always listened to Iggy. They were a couple, I guess. Old news. They had been dating for, what, ten years? Since we went off the map and saved the world, I think. Max and Fang were together, too. They'd liked each other since they were fourteen, but didn't admit it to each other until after Max saved the world.

_Polo is a new mutant here, he's fourteen, I think. Then Eli is the same age as him, and Karma is part of the new flock,_ I explained.

_Oh, so he's the same age we were back when we saved the world?_ Max said.

_Yup._

_Wait, what do you mean, you _think?_ Didn't you read his mind?_ Fang put in, observant as ever.

_Yeah, about that… something's up and I can't read his mind._

_Whaat?!_ about four of them said at once.

_I'll tell you later. We need out, now,_ I told them over the tide of questions.

_Okay,_ Max agreed. _Here's the plan…_

Eli

A beach! I love beaches, especially swimming! The sand was hot on my toes, telling me that I wasn't in Maine. That was odd, but I didn't care. I realized I was in my swimsuit, which was perfect. My favorite swimsuit, too, a nice purple with white tropical flower patterns on it, boyshort bottoms and a tie-around-the-neck-and-back bikini top.

Without hesitating, I charged for the water. But something was wrong. I was moving too fast, faster than I'd ever ran. I didn't feel like I was exerting myself, though. I looked down at my feet, half expecting to just see a cloud of dirt like in Bugs Bunny. What I actually saw was farm more far-fetched.

It wasn't my feet. It was scaled things, like dinosaur feet, complete with pure white claws that contrasted the black scales. I stopped in shock.

My hands were the same, though they were human hand shaped. They had black scales all over them, and hooked white claws. The fingers seemed longer, and curled fluidly with a fourth joint. My arms were covered in scales, my body… I had a freaking tail! Long, black, and whiplike. And black batwings, spread behind me. I looked up, and I wasn't at the beach anymore. I was surrounded by mirrors, like at a clown house.

The mirrors all showed different things. One showed something that looked just like a slithard, but with white claws and black scales instead of the dark green or blue of normal slithards. My eyes were pure gold orbs, but maroon blossomed from the middle as I watched, until my eyes were garnets, hard and hot.

Another mirror showed the normal me that I'd always known, but my clothes were worn and threadbare, my hair tangled, and my expression wild as if I'd been chased across the world by nightmares. The next mirror showed the normal me, looking triumphant, powerful, and cold. She had slithard hands that I'd seen in the first mirror, scales on her forearms, shins, and around her collarbones, and her eyes were red. She was smiling victoriously, exposing hooked snake fangs. A slithard tail lashed behind her.

Other mirrors showed combinations of the human me and the slithard me, some looking scared and upset, others angry and harsh, and still more showed simple, happy, and dumb. All of them whispered _Sam, Sam, Sam…_ The reflections twisted and warped, blood oozing down the mirrors. The sound of cracking bones echoed through the room, the screams of agony from the damned ringing behind my eyes. The whispering changed to cries of help, begging and pleading. _Please, end it, stop this, take me, kill us, help, end it!_

I backed up, wondering what the hell was going on. My wings brushed something cold and metallic. Bars. What now?

I squeezed my eyes closed, and I was suddenly enclosed in bars. I could feel them, though my eyes were closed. No wings. No scales. I was back in the Home, in a cage. I took a deep, steadying breath, the tortured cries echoing in my head. I could still smell the blood, feel their torture in my bones. _Sam,_ they whispered. _Help us._

Polo

I was hunched up against the bars of my cage, miserable. Karma looked about the same as I did. Eli was still twitching and thrashing slightly. It was strange, but I could almost hear screaming inside my mind. My chest ached, and I stared at her blankly.

Suddenly, she stopped moving. Her breathing evened out, and her eyes were softly closed instead of squeezed shut against something hiding in the darkness behind them.

"Eli?" I whispered gently, reaching through the bars of my cage as far as I could to brush her hand. She flinched slightly.

"What?" she whispered back, voice clear of pain. I sighed in relief.

"Are you okay?"

She paused, her eyes still closed. "No, of course not. I'm in some hellhole of a lab, stuck in a cage, wondering when they'll come for me and try to do something to me."

"Oh. Well… um… what just happened?"

"No clue," she replied shortly. Her eyes still were closed.

"Can you describe it to me or something?" I pressed, trying not to get frustrated.

Her eyes shot open, and I recoiled. They were red, like rubies or garnets.

"Can I describe it to you? Can you describe what it's like to fly, or what sweetness tastes like? Can I explain what it's like to be trapped in my own head, enjoying a pleasant dream of the damned calling out to me as I transform into a slithard?" she snarled. Her teeth seemed to grow large and sharp in her sudden anger. Her hands curled into fists, and darkness seemed to spread across the skin, rippling like scales. But then it was gone, and I was staring into her tired, sad, hazel eyes. She combed a hand through her hair tiredly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, so quietly I had to strain to hear it. She turned away slightly, looking suddenly exaughsted.

"I understand," I said comfortingly. "Okay, wait. That was stupid. No, I don't understand, but… I should be the one saying sorry. I dragged you into this mess. It's been a long two days. I just suddenly burst into your life, all feathers and secrets, then get you kidnapped and brought to a place you thought was just from your books," I said hesitantly. I wasn't one for speeches, or apologies. And there I was, melting like butter in her capable hands.

"No, it's fine. They would have come for me sooner or later anyway," she muttered.

"True. We're all tired. Why don't we get some sleep?" I suggested to her. Karma looked like he was going to conk out any moment. I felt the same way. Eli just nodded tiredly, curling up in her cage and closing her eyes. Karma just fell asleep the way he was sitting. I followed their lead as best as I could. The last thing I thought before I fell asleep was, _Even after all this, she_ still_ smells like oranges._


	9. Fight then Flight

Molt

"_Why are you doing this?" She spoke as if not expecting a response._

_Her voice penetrated the still air of our speechless drive, so suddenly my heart had jumped._

"_I'm not doing anything," I said, but I didn't even believe that myself._

"_This is what's best, for me, for you, for us." Or maybe just for me, I thought, as a tear formed in the pit of her eye._

_The music poured from the speakers, and we were loosing ourselves in the cadence._

_She looked down momentarily, and closed her eyes for a bit longer than a standard blink._

_Then she was crying. Then she was shouting. Then I was shouting. Now pouring confessions, having no answers, or solutions._

_We barely even knew the questions._

_As we were, so perfect, so happy_

_They'll remember only our smiles 'cause that's all they've seen_

_Long since dried when we are found_

_All the tears in which we had drowned_

_As we were, so perfect, so happy_

**((Bonjour mes amis! Another long pause, sorry!! I'm pretty sure I've got bronchitis, so I'm kinda woozy from a combination of allergy medication (flippin pollen crap…) and outdated cough drops (heh… whoopsie). So please forgive any weird errors.**

**On the flip side, track is almost over!! I've got one more meet, and maybe one more practice! Huzzah! More frequent posts (maybe. I've got finals coming up in almost all my classes. ugh.).**

**Thanks to: whoever reviewed. My internet isn't working well, and yeah… (read medicine rant above).))**

Molt

I relaxed, feeling on top of the world. Polo was in his cage, where he should be. I had captured the writer. I'd also gotten new leads on the rumored 'flight'. My feet were propped up on my desk as I leaned back in my wheelie chair, stretching happily. Yes, I had my own office. I was only fourteen, and the head of the Home slithards. The Immune System, we called ourselves. The mutants were a plague, and we were the cure. We kept things running smoothly and in line. Today, things were beyond smooth. Nothing could ruin this day.

Except, possibly, the low tone in my ear. The alarms, not over speakers or anything, but transmitted directly into a communication chip inside my head that went with the one in my jaw.

My feet slipped off the desk and my chair un-reclined, flinging me forward. I stumbled to my feet, swearing loudly. A twist of my finger opened the communication link in my chips.

"Execute emergency system... 3XY," I decided, listening to the extent of the damage inside my head. **Full flock out, moving to the west wing at 40 miles per hour. Immediate defenses down, guards out, flock inside west wing, moving to west gates, turning into room 67...** the chip droned on as I smashed through my door, not bothering with the knob. The dark gold, almost black scales were already over my skin, the fangs and claws out, ready for a fight. My eyes were yellow with thin irises. That was one of the resons I was head of the Immune System. I was the fastest morpher in our ranks.

My wings burst from my back and I flew down the hallways, banking sharply and dangerously. I grabbed a syringe from a startled whitecoat who'd just stepped from a room, and glanced at the label on it. Good, it was a knockout needle.

"Surround west wing. Seal all exits. Trap room 67," I whispered into the chip, hearing my words carried out across the link over the other alarmed voices.

I saw the door to the west wing in front of me, and the metal grate lowering. A spin, a dive, and I was on the other side just before it closed. How's that for you, James Bond?

I soared over the heads of the other slithards, diving straight down into the room. To my suprise and anger, it was empty. I bellowed in anger, spinning toward the door again. Oh, wait. This was room 68.

I burst through the door just in time to collide painfully and ungracefully with a figure. We both staggered backwards, and I recognized her.

"You!" she screeched. Uh-oh, she recognized me, too. Before I could reply, she'd sprang off the wall and smashed into me in a football tackle.

There was no way she was just a human, just a writer. Her blow shot me into room 68, and I hit the opposite wall with an 'Oof'.

She was strong, but she'd caught me by surprise. I wasn't head of the Immune System for nothing. I took half a moment to recover, then cracked my elbow against her chin while she got her breath. I followed up with a knee in the stomach, then a slash down her arm.

Here's something most people don't get about fighting. It's not usually clean kicking and punching like you'd see on a Jackie Chan movie. It's up close, in-your-face dirty. You can't rear back and punch someone when they're a foot away from you. And what's more, the fist is the worst thing to hit someone with. You punch someone and you'll likely break your fist, no matter what position your thumb is in.

Despite the hard hits, she still had lots of fight in her. On the ground, she swung her legs around to knock mine out from under me. Then we were scrabbling on the floor, rolling over and over. A knee in the chest, a hand around a neck, sharp claws across an arm… I wasn't sure who was hitting who, just striking as hard and fast as I could.

A sharp blow to my head sent me spinning back from her. Blinking away stars, I looked up from my slumped position against the wall. Max was standing there, blood running from a cut in her forehead and looking murderous.

"C'mon, Eli," Polo muttered, stepping forward and pulling her up. She swayed slightly where she was standing, one eye swelling and a long gash across her cheekbone.

"We're leaving now. Thanks for the hospitality," Max spat, walking confidently over to the window and nodding to Fang. He nodded back, then the glass exploded. So much for our poison dart trap, with tiny spines too small for the naked eye to see buried into the glass. One by one, the flock, Polo (carrying Eli with the help of Nudge), Eli, and Karma jumped out the window. I blearily saw a large group of dark forms soaring outside, then I was out like a light.

Angel

When Polo left, I felt like I'd been underwater, and was just surfacing. I felt awake, for the first time. Something the erasers had done to me was broken by Polo's presence.

On instant alert, I began throwing my necessities in my old ragged backpack. I'd begged the erasers to let me keep it. 'As a souvenir,' I'd said. Clothes, toothbrush, a bit of food, everything that I would need. After a moments hesitation, I reached out and touched the minds of all the rest of the flock for the first time in almost a year. I connected us so it was like one big chat room. Instantly, I was assaulted by questions.

_Angel? What's going on? Who went in there? I heard someone go in your room, and I thought OMG they're going to put her to sleep! But here you are, so you're obviously alive. Ha ha, that was stupid. Of course you're alive! This brain thing wouldn't work if you weren't alive! Why did they go in? I-_

_Nudge, _Iggy warned. Of course, she listened. Ever since Iggy and Nudge had started 'going out', Nudge Channel actually had a mute button. And Iggy's new ability helped.

_Angel, honey, what's going on?_ That was Max, showing a bit of her old leaderly spirit. Fang was his normal silent self, and Gazzy didn't say anything. He never said much of anything lately.

You're probably confused. Here's what happened in a nut shell:

About a year after we went off the map, erasers found us. We beat them, of course, and escaped. But I felt like I should be leader. I'd taken out five of the ten erasers with my mental skills, not even physically touching them. Max told me no. A couple days later, stuffed happened. I became leader, and Max and Fang left for a while. Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy stayed. Nudge was (and is) my best friend, and Iggy was staying with Nudge, but Gazzy was torn. Fang and Max really pressured him to go with them, but he said no. Now he doesn't talk much.

After another year, Max and Fang came back. They'd broken up for a couple months, but then decided to join up with us again. Max and I had a fight because I didn't want to be leader, actually physically fighting, and then Max won. The flock was joined again, but Max didn't want to be leader again. Her leadership was broken, and she wasn't taking it back.

Some new abilities had shown up during that time. Fang could make things explode. Iggy could strengthen or weaken sounds. Gazzy could do minor illusions, or hologram things, but it took a lot out of him. Max didn't get anything new, and Nudge could actually talk to electronic things. Example- she could 'talk' a computer into giving her information or a password, an electric lock into opening, and a cell phone to ring. I didn't have anything new. And Total died, but I'm not saying how.

That's pretty much it. Back to the mental flock meeting.

I explained about Polo, and I felt Max silently freak out. I ignored it, and went on to the plan.

_Fang, you need to explode your door. Once we get out, Nudge, you've got to talk the alarms out of ringing, at least for a minute while we get Polo and Sam out. Gazzy, if we meet anyone, you've got to make us look like a group of erasers. Everyone got the plan?_ I was met with a chorus of agreements.

_Okay, let's skedaddle._

Eli

I was angry at a combination of things.

First, I had to be rescued like a helpless human, beaten by a thin web of steel. I'd already managed to tear a small hole in the back, but apparently I hadn't been fast enough. Second, I'd fought with that Molt guy, and Max decided to step in and play hero. I was pulverizing him, but did anyone let me do anything? No. The human is obviously a liability. I was sure they were going to ditch me in some safe hole as soon as they could. Third, I had to be carried, taken care of again like a wussy.

Polo seemed content to fly holding me bridal style, but I wasn't. As soon as I'd spit out the blood in my mouth from my tussle, I spoke up.

"Put me down!" I cried, wiggling. Yeah, not smart. A couple thousand feet up in the air, and I was thrashing, trying to break his grip.

I was proud for a moment when I managed to squirm out of his arms. _Ha!_ I thought. _I have rights, too!_ Then I realized I was plummeting, and freakin' _fast._

**Sam, your wings!**

I jumped (yes, that's possible when you're in free fall). What was that?

**Get thinking! You're going to splat if you don't fly!**

Well, okay. I had a Voice in my head. Just like Max. _Two points for the wussy human,_ I thought hysterically, flailing in the air. Suddenly, I realized something. There weren't four limbs waving in the air around me. There were _seven._

Hands and arms. Check. Legs and feet. Check. Black leathery wings and long, black scaled tail. Check.

Wait.

What?

**((Ahahaha! Cliffie!! Who could see this coming? In any reviews, please tell me if you expected this. And if I'm being too obvious about what's going to happen. 4 is the lucky number of reviews, and a vote for the poll on my profile counts as one! I've got the next chapter started, so I'm just going to be waiting for the reviews.))**


	10. A Sweet Smelling Slithard

"Why are you doing this

_Well, she's not bleeding on the ballroom floor_

_Just for the attention_

'_Cause that's just ridiculously… odd_

_Well, she sure is gonna get it_

_Here's the setting, fashion magazines line the walls now_

_The walls lined with bullet holes_

_You sure you sure you let her have it_

_You sure you sure_

_Have some composure_

_Where is your posture_

_Oh no no_

_You're pulling the trigger_

_Pulling the trigger all wrong_

**((Yay! Another chapter! This one is pretty long, so I'm not going to post again until I get 4 reviews. Get some friends to read it, if you want it quicker! It's kind of grim in near the end of this chapter, so heads up.**

**Thanks to: Someone aka Me! This chapter is dedicated to you, since you've stuck with this even though it's been a while! **

Eli

**Sam! Flap! Pull up! Do something!** the Voice said. It seemed angry, almost shouting. _Yeah, yeah, just a minute,_ I though back. Even though I was dropping toward the ground at an alarming rate and suddenly had new extremities, I was strangely calm. The- no, _my_ wings seemed to move instinctively. The muscles felt familiar, like I'd lived with them all my life. I stretched them out and casually shifted, feeling the air like it was a solid object. I pulled up, blasting back toward the sky with about a hundred meters between me and the trees.

I whooped in excitement. Holy crap! I had wings! I started to fly up through the clouds, back to the flock, but slowed suddenly. What would they think? I dove down again, hesitating as I hovered in the air. I glanced down at myself, (with perfect eyes, might I add. I could practically count the pine needles far below me) taking in my appearance.

I was a slithard, but with blackish scales that had a gold sheen when they caught the light right. My claws were ivory, and I instinctively knew my eyes were pure gold orbs, no pupils. I grinned around my hooked fangs, then frowned. The flock would likely kill me if they found me like this.

_So, Voice, you seem to know everything except my name. What do you purpose to do?_ I thought. To my surprise, it answered back.

**Change back. Concentrate on your normal 'human' self.** I could practically hear the quotations around human. **Picture yourself with skin, hair, normal eyes, etcetera.**

I obeyed without a thought (going down into the trees, first, and getting soaked thoroughly with snow), and the scales faded rapidly. My vision faded to average, and I felt my hair on my shoulders. My tail shrunk into my spine, but I stopped short of the wings. I wanted them there. They were comfortable, and I folded them neatly under my shirt. The leathery skin fit into my back perfectly, hidden better than the flock's feathery wings. I noticed hidden wing slits in the back of my shirt, and a practically invisible hole in the seat of my pants for my tail to slip through. When my tail was demorphed, the hole seemed to disappear, a tiny flap of jean falling over the hole and staying with Velcro.

_Okay, and now? I should be a pancake right now._

**Lie down on the ground, but get rid of your wings, first.**

_Why? I like them,_I defended.

**Because, when Polo finds you in a moment, he'll… 'check' you over for injuries. Your back won't be left unchecked.** I didn't need any more than that. I reluctantly make them fade, sighing as they shrank into my back. Then I lay down on the snow, trying to arrange myself into a position I would've assumed if I'd fallen.

_I should be unconscious at the least,_ I thought.

**I can help with that. This might hurt a bit, though.**

_Okay, but hurry up, I'm freezing. Wait. Once I wake up, we need to talk._

**I'm not sure if you could call this talking,** the Voice said snidely. **But I understand. We will, don't worry.** I thought I heard a teasing note, but wasn't sure.

The Voice did its thing, and it brought a surprising amount of pain in the back of my head. Then my vision blurred and turned red, then went out completely.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()(A While Later)()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

I opened my eyes slowly and groggily. The Voice hadn't taken any shortcuts; I really felt as if I'd fallen a looong way into unforgiving tree branches.

The first thing I saw was Polo's face staring down at me, concerned. Then I took in the trees around us. Funny, I thought I'd been out for a long time.

"Eli! Are you okay?" he said, staring at me with concern. I felt another burst of anger.

_Treating me like a weak human again! I'll tell him-_

**Sam, you can't let him find out. You'll become an outcast,** the Voice warned. I almost snarled out loud at it, then realized Polo would think my random growling would be weird. He might suspect a concussion.

"Yeah, I'm fine. After falling out of the sky, fighting my way out of a secret lab filled with evil mutants, and getting kidnapped can't hurt me," I growled, struggling to get up. Whatever the Voice did, it really worked. I felt bruised all over. Probably because I actually _was_ bruised all over. I noticed my shirt was rumpled, and my pants were rolled up.

"Wha-," I froze, eyes widening. "Did you…?" Polo's face turned red. Ye gods, he was actually blushing.

"I- I had to check to see if you had any broken bones. I didn't look much, I just rolled up your pants and… and took off your shirt," he said in a rush. I could feel my face reddening to match his. Quickly, I straightened my shirt and rolled down my pants, hoping he hadn't noticed the scars around my shins.

"Where's the flock?" I asked, changing topics ungracefully. He looked relieved.

"They went to meet the flight, and I said I was staying with you. They wanted to carry you, but I didn't want to move you in case there were any spinal injuries." He offered a hand and helped me to my feet.

"Okay. Where are we going to meet up with them?"

"A playground about a mile south of here," he said, starting to walk in what must've been a southerly direction. "I can't carry you alone, and I'm honestly too tired to try."

An idea struck me as I caught up to him, then matched his fast walk. _Voice? Do I have, like, hollow bones and air sacs now?_

**Yes.** Wow. A direct answer. I was shocked. **That's what part of the 'seizure' thing changed in you. Your bones were becoming stronger and denser, using the mass from the middle as they became hollow. Air sacs grew, and the dormant slithard DNA began to spread. Your metabolism skyrocketed as it changed any fat into pure muscle, and the DNA enhanced your sensory nerves.**

"… something about Angel being leader, and Max not acting like leader anymore, and Gazzy being depressed. Fang, Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge have new powers," Polo was saying, all fact and no feeling, Mr. Emotions-Of-A-Deodorant-Stick.

"Did you see Max's face when she first saw you?" I asked. His jaw tightened.

"Yes."

"Do you know why she looked like that?" I prodded, remembering her shocked look.

"No," said Mr. Deodorant Stick.

"… do you have any ideas of why she looked like that?" My patience was drawing to an end. He seemed to notice, and took pity on me.

"Maybe she was freaked about the cages. It might not be about me." He hesitated, then added, "I look a lot like Fang, too."

I did a double take, mentally comparing him to Fang. It was true, he had dark hair, dark eyes, and the same shape of his face. A sudden suspicion wormed its way to the surface. Yes, it was definitely possible… there was the correct timing and everything… No, I wasn't going to mention it. I could be just leaping to conclusions.

**Expect the unexpected, Sam. **I almost groaned. Stupid fortune cookie inside my head.

_Why can't you just tell me?_ I snarled. Of course, it didn't answer.

"Look," Polo said, interrupting my thoughts. I could see a clearing up ahead, and instinctively knew it was the playground. I recognized it to be Gary Memorial Park, a place I'd gone a lot when I was little. A sigh of relief escaped my lips. It was sunny out, but still pretty darned cold.

We stepped out of the trees, and the flock, and what I assumed was the flight. Or they were a bunch of Olympic bikers or something. Unlikely.

They all turned and looked at us, suddenly quiet. I smiled brightly, striding up on silent feet.

"Hey guys. So what've you decided about me?" I asked, grinning.

"We weren't talking about you," a guy with red hair said. I could tell he was the leader of the flight from the way the others stood slightly behind him, and he had a commanding aura.

"Don't lie. You were too," I said, rolling my eyes. Max's eyes narrowed.

"How do you know we were talking about you?" she said, stepping forward menacingly. Even though she was around 24 years old, I knew she could beat me in a fight. If I didn't turn into a slithard, that is.

"I grew up in a civilization based on a social caste system," I explained. "I know when someone's gossiping." I saw Polo suppress a smirk beside me.

Max stepped forward again, saying, "You sure you don't have something to tell us?" I hid my fear carefully. I was an experienced liar, despite my sweet, smart, good-girl reputation. It's not that I don't lie, it's that I'm very, very good at it. But Max was probably just as good as I was, probably better. She might've been able to see through me. _Oh, God, she can't know,_ I thought frantically. I opened my mouth to reply, but the redhead leader seemed to notice the hostility, and stepped in between us, clapping his hands and assuming a kind yet brisk tone.

"Yes! Well! Introductions should be done, of course. I'm Carlos, 14, and I can create illusions," he said quickly. A petite girl with blond hair and gray eyes stepped up.

"I'm Bekka, 13 years old, and I can talk to animals," she said. Karma stepped up next, puffing out his chest proudly.

"I'm Karma, and I'm 11. I'm fast." He started to step back, then added, "I'm Bekka's brother."

"I'm Missy, 9 years old," an African-American girl said, smiling sweetly. She was tall for her age, and looked about 12. "I can make big winds and sort of… sense vibes, like, if someone's evil, or good, or wants to do something evil or good," she explained.

A boy who looked like he should be 8 stepped up. He had black hair and strangely gold eyes. "I'm Zane, and I'm six. I can make myself look different," he said, grinning. As I watched, his hair turned white, his eyes pinkish-red, and his skin got very pale. Before my eyes, he'd just turned himself albino, then the color leeched back into his skin. I was surprised he was six. Maybe it was the lack of baby fat that made him look too old.

"Polo. 14." That was all he said. I smirked slightly.

I realized everyone was looking at me, and it was my turn. I swallowed, meeting their eyes with as much confidence as I could muster.

"I'm S-Eli," I said, fighting back that strange compulsion to say Sam, again. "I'm 15, and yes, I'm the writer, the human." Seeing Carlos's shocked face, and Iggy's confused one, I started to tell them about my book. "I've wrote a book, called 3XP3R!M3NTAL: Maximum Ride. It's the flock's exact story, and I didn't know the Home was real until a day ago." Had it been only a day? It felt like much longer.

"We've seen and read the book," Carlos said. "We saw it in someone's comment on Fang's Blog. How did you know the story, then?"

I shrugged, not wanting to explain the dreams. "I thought I was just making it all up, like any other fiction writer."

"So, you know all about us? Everything about us?" Nudge asked. I nodded, and she squealed. "Ohmigod! That's so cool, and kinda creepy! I can't believe you would just make that up, and it was real! Why do you think that? I-," her voice was suddenly gone, and she was just mouthing words. She seemed to realize what happened, and glared at Iggy. He was smirking. To show that she wasn't angry, she kissed him on the cheek, making him blush, his smirk becoming a sheepish grin.

"Moving on," Max said. "You all know us. To catch you up, Iggy can make sounds louder or quieter, as he's just displayed, Fang can blow stuff up, Gazzy can make illusions," here Carlos smiled, looking at the 18-year-old cheerily, but Gazzy didn't seem to notice. He was staring blankly at the snowy ground. I remembered Polo saying something about the Gasman being depressed. Carlos waited, then his smile faded, leaving a puzzled look.

"This is all nice and such, but I'm _freezing,_" Bekka said, shivering. I silently agreed with her."Where are we going to go?"

Everyone turned and looked at me again. I blinked, then realized what they were indicating.

"Oh! Right! Uh… okay, my house is near here. I've got a playhouse thing that's got heating, and a little kitchen, and stuff. You all can stay there," I said, already distributing the place in my head. The flock was six, the flight was five, and Polo made a total of twelve… I was suddenly unsure if they would all fit. "I'm not sure if you'll all fit, though," I said slowly, biting my lip. Carlos stepped forward, his leaderness showing.

"Okay then, we can just rent a hotel. Polo, I heard the Home mutants were passing the Maximum Ride credit card around. Do you think you could rent us six rooms?" Polo nodded, and I smiled in relief.

"There's a hotel kind of near my house, only a mile away. My house is this way," I said, starting to walk there. Then I froze. "Oh, crap… how am I going to explain my sudden disappearance for a whole day?" I groaned, shoulders slumping. Sue was probably worried sick, and as bad as I felt for her, I knew I couldn't go back for a while. The erasers and slithards knew I would go there.

"You can stay with us," Polo said. "We'll still get six rooms, but Missy, Zane, and Karma should probably stay in one room. You can room with me." I nodded, and we started the walk to the hotel. Polo had already packed bags for us, and stole them during our escape from the Home, so we were walking in the opposite direction of my house. Everyone agreed the erasers and slithards would be watching the air. They wouldn't suspect anyone walking.

Ten minutes later, we were standing in the lobby of the hotel, basking in the warmth from our icy walk. Max (she was oldest, and could pass as a responsible guardian for all of us) casually asked for six rooms while the rest of us hung back. I would've asked because I looked most normal and least ragged, but I was sure Sue had set up some sort of search for me. A lot of people knew me, so I wasn't safe. The flock and flight stood around me and I kept my head down.

We distributed the rooms: Fang and Max, Iggy and Nudge, Angel and Gasser, Carlos and Bekka, Missy, Karma, and Zane, me and Polo. The rooms each had two double-beds, so everyone got a bed, except Zane and Missy, who were sharing. We took long, hot, awesome showers, then ordered six veggie pizzas to be delivered to our rooms from the local pizza place. It was actually kind of fun, like a slumber party.

Just before bed, everyone met in Max's room. We looked halfway normal, actually. Angel was playing with Zane, Nudge was braiding Missy's hair, making dreadlocks, Iggy was asking Bekka about her 'talent' with animals, Max, Fang, and Carlos were whispering urgently to each other, and Gazzy was sitting with Iggy and Bekka, listening with an actual expression on his face instead of a blank, lifeless mask. He looked curious.

When Polo and I walked in, we immediately grouped. Angel asked the first question.

"Okay, can someone tell me where you all came from?" she said, running a hand through her long, wavy, blond hair and folding her long legs. It still surprised me to see a tall, smart looking sixteen-year-old when I expected a little t-year-old girl with a ragged teddy bear and a dog.

Carlos instantly started describing the flight's history. "We were created at the School, after it was rebuilt off funds the Home had kept secret, in case something like the bomb happened. You already know that Bekka and Karma are siblings, and that's pretty much all we know about our real families. We haven't even really tried to find this stuff out. We were taken out of the School before it blew up, like everyone else, but the erasers caught up with us. We were among the youngest; I was only two or something. It was a little while after the flock split up and Angel became leader.

"We escaped about two years ago, and have been hiding out ever since. We lived in Florida for about a year and a half, then heard rumors of another lab up in Maine. We were headed up that way when we saw Polo's message on Fang's Blog, so we really booked it trying to get here fast. And that's all," he finished lamely. "I've got a question. What was that snake thing?"

"A slithard." I jumped when Polo suddenly spoke up. "That was Molt, actually. My enemy, you could say. I thought he was an eraser, but apparently, in my short one-day-long absence, they changed them all. They'd already created slithards, and must've decided they were going to make the switch. They probably changed Molt into a slithard somehow, but got rid of the erasers and put in the slithards. They keep Molt because he's the leader of the Immune System. He's the fastest morpher, fighter, and thinker. He's strongest, smartest, and cruelest.

"Those slithards have hard scales, as you've seen. They're usually dark red, dark green, or dark blue. Molt is the only dark gold one I've seen." I suppressed a shudder, thinking of my own scales, but nobody noticed, and Polo plowed on. "They've got hooked snake fangs, not poisonous (thank God) and retractable claws. A long, whiplike tail with scales, a flat nose, and feet like one of those raptor dinosaurs, with the long claws, backward knees, and claw thing halfway up their calves."

There was a long pause after his speech. It was the most I'd ever heard him say at once, and made me rethink him a bit. Maybe he wasn't as silent as Fang, just tried to cover everything up. Like those kids who were excited as heck about a party, but tried to act cool by acting like they didn't care as much.

"Okay, I think that's all for tonight. Get some rest, everyone. We'll probably stay in this hotel for another… two nights, then go South. Eli…" she paused.

"I know. I don't have wings, so I can't go with you," I said, unable to keep the disappointment from my voice. Angel had a knowing look on her face, a small smirk. I hoped she wouldn't read my mind too much.

"Wait," Polo said. "She got mad when the erasers were first trying to catch her, and changed. She isn't all that human. Her hair turned maroon, and so did her eyes. Maybe we can get some wings out of her!" Oh, shiiit.

**Go with the flow, Sam.**

_What's that supposed to mean?_ I struggled to focus on the room and the conversation, acting like I was thinking so Max wouldn't make a connection.

**Exactly what I said. They want to see wings, so show them wings. Just keep the scales and stuff away.**

_Are you crazy?!_

**You're the one with a Voice in your head,** it said smugly.

I hissed out a breath, furious. Polo was staring at me with concern.

"I- I need a walk," I muttered, getting up. Nobody stopped me, perhaps because of the slightly insane look in my eyes. I walked out of the room, then down the two stories of stairs, unable to stand the elevator. I got outside, and it was freezing. Reminded of my purse Polo had thought to bring, I headed toward a small L.L. Bean outlet. I walked quickly to the bathroom, then stood in front of the mirror.

My hair wasn't as messy as I'd thought. A hand brushed through it fixed it as best as I could. I wiped away the slightly smudged eyeliner, and pulled my sleeves down over the claw mark on my arm from the tussle with Molt.

I took a deep breath, and concentrated on my slithardness. Only the wings, though. It took five tries to get the wings only, and when I got them, I was suddenly angry at myself.

"Why can't you be perfect?" I growled, banging my head against the mirror.

"Uh... sorry? I just want to pee…" someone said from inside one of the stalls. I gripped the sides of the sink and suppressed a shriek of frustration. I needed my knife.

**Sam, you need to stop that right now,** the Voice said as I folded my wings under my shirt, slipped into a stall, and started rummaging through my bag.

_Shut up. What is with you calling me Sam? I'm _Eli._ Not Sam._

**Eli is the name you're used to, but Sam is who you really are.**

_Damn you, Voice,_ I thought as I found my knife. I flicked it open, and pulled a band-aid from my bag. I could faintly hear the other person leave the bathroom, but it didn't really register in my brain. I put the toilet lid down and sat on it, rolling up my pant leg.

The knife flicked open, the black rubber handle fitting comfortably into my palm.

**Sam, I am demanding you to stop.** I ignored it, pressing the blade into the skin, about an inch above my ankle. I slid it across the skin, then waited patiently for the blood to come. It did, slowly, making the cut visible. Twice more I dug the knife in, deepening it, until I felt completely happy.

With practiced movements, I cleaned the knife on a square of toilet paper and snapped it closed. I opened the band-aid and stuck it on the cut, positioning it carefully so it covered the inch-long cut. The faint scars around it seemed to wink happily at me under the bright bathroom lights. The knife was stored back into my bag, the pants were rolled back down, and I left the bathroom cheerily, the cut stinging pleasantly.

I bought a light blue and black winter jacket, a pair of black mittens, a hat to match, and ski goggles, just for good measure. Then I went back to the hotel in a much cheerier mood. I calmly took the elevator and strode back into Max's room, where everyone was still talking. They looked up when I walked in.

"There's an L.L. Bean right next door. You all should get some winter stuff, 'cause it's going to be at least two days before we get into the warmer states," I said, displaying my jacket. "Ski goggles would be a good idea, too."

"'We'?" Fang asked.

"Oui, 'we'," I answered. "That's why I went on a walk, I was debating on telling you all. I needed to clear my head. When I was in a cage, I think they did something to me. I've had wings since we left, I just was afraid to tell you."

"Whaat?" Polo exclaimed. "Show us!"

I turned and slowly extended my wings from my back, biting my lip when I heard a chorus of gasps. I could hear Angel describing what happened quietly to Iggy.

"Those are slithard wings," Nudge said, her voice shaking a bit.

"Yes, Eli, care to explain why you've got _demon_ wings? Are you going to grow fangs, too?" Max said, her voice venomous.

"It's not my fault I've got different wings," I defended. "I didn't choose this. And do you think I could have wings without scales? If I was a slithard, I'd be covered in scales right now."

Max stared at me for a long moment, then spun to face Angel. "Angel. What're you getting from her?"

Angel frowned, looking reluctant to say in front of everyone. "Well… I'm not actually getting much at all. I know she doesn't want to hurt us, and I knew she had wings from the moment Polo mentioned it. She was swearing inside her head… but I'm mostly getting bits of our story, her book."

"Missy? Is she good or evil?" Carlos said, turning to the little girl. She paused, her face crumpling with her effort.

"She's not evil," she said. I saw Carlos's shoulder slump with relief, and Nudge pecked her on the cheek, then resumed braiding.

"Okay. We're all tired, so let's get to bed," Max said. The flock stacked fists, did their famous fist-tap thing, then the meeting was over. And I wasn't dead yet.

I slipped into bed, flicking off the lights, as Polo did the same on the other side of the room. I closed my eyes, feeling a thrill of exhilaration. I was going with the flock and the flight.

_Got anymore cryptic messages for me, Voice?_ I asked silently.

**Go with the flow, Sam. Get some sleep, you need to be rested.**

And with that, I was asleep.

Polo

How the hell was I supposed to sleep with her so close? And the room smelling like oranges… yummy oranges… I wondered if she tasted like citrus, too…

**((Woot! Long chappie! 7 pages in Word, single-spaced! Four reviews for the next chapter!))**


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